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CATHEDRAL CITIES 
OF FRANCE 



BY 

HERBERT MARSHALL, R.W.S. 

AND 

HESTER MARSHALL 

WITH SIXTY ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR 
BY HERBERT MARSHALL, R.W.S. 




NEW YORK 
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 

1907 



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UttSMRY of CONGRESS 
iwo CoDies Recelvetf 

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Copyneht Enfry 

CLASS^ XXc, NQ: 

COPY 6. 



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Copyright, 1907, by 
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 
Published September, igoy 



NOTE 

The following chapters are the result of notes put 
together during summers spent in France in the 
course of the last five years. They are not intended 
to mark out any particular geographical scheme, 
though considered as isolated suggestions they may 
possibly prove useful to the intending traveller; nor 
do they aim at covering all the Cathedral cities of 
France. 

The authors are indebted for much valuable help 
from the following books : Viollet-le-Duc's " Dic- 
tionnaire de I'Architecture " ; Mr. Phene Spiers's 
" Architecture East and West " ; Mr. Francis Bond's 
"Gothic Architecture in England"; Mr. Henry 
James's " Little Tour in France "; Mr. Cecil Head- 
lam's " Story of Chartres " ; Freeman's " History of 
the Norman Conquest " and " Sketches of French 
Travel " ; Dr. Whewell's " Notes on a Tour in 
Picardy and Normandy"; M. Guilhermy's '' Itin- 
eraire archeologique de Paris " ; M. Hoffbauer's 
" Paris a travers les ages " ; M. Enlart's " Archi- 
tecture Religieuse"; Mr. Walter Lonergan's " His- 
toric Churches of Paris " ; the " Chronicles " of 
Froissart and Monstrelet; and to the letters in The 
Times of its war correspondent, 1870 and 1871. 

H. M. M. and H. M. 

[v] 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I A French Cathedral City 
II Boulogne to Amiens . 

III Laon, Rheims, and Soissons 

IV Rouen 
V Evreux and Lisieux 

VI Bayeux 

VII St. L6 and Coutances 
VIII Le Mans . 
IX Angers 
X Tours and Blois . 
XI Chartres 
XII Orleans, Bourges, and Nevers 

XIII Moulins^ Limoges, and Perigueux 

XIV Angouleme and Poitiers 
XV La Rochelle and Bordeaux 

XVI Sens, Auxerre, and Troyes . 
XVII Meaux, Senlis, and Beauvais 
XVIII Paris and Some of its Churches 
Index ..... 
[vii] 



PAGE 
I 

15 

38 
62 

88 
104 
128 

151 
169 
181 
201 
218 
245 
267 
281 
299 
324 
348 
38s 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Laon: view from the plain . 


Frontispiece 


St. Martin, Laon .... 


Facing Page 2 


The Quayside, Amiens 


t( t 


6^ 


A Street in Perigueux .... 


11 t 


' 10. 


The Porte Gayole, Boulogne 


i( < 


i6 


Abbeville 


(( ( 


24 


The Place Vogel, Amiens 


(( ( 


28 


Evening on the Somme at Amiens 


(( ( 


32 


The Ramparts, Laon .... 


<< < 


42 


Laon from the Boulevards . 


(( ( 


' 48 


Rheims ...... 


(< i 


54- 


Soissons ...... 


It ( 


' 58. 


Rouen from the River 


« < 


68/ 


Rue de I'Horloge, Rouen 


<( ( 


' 78 


Rue St. Romain, Rouen 


« t 


' 84 


Evreux . . . . . 


(i ( 


90 


The Tovi^ers of Evreux 


(( < 


' 96 


St. Jacques, Lisieux .... 


(( < 


' 100 


A Street Corner, Bayeux . 


(( ( 


' no 


Bayeux from the Meadows . 


(( < 


' 122 


St. L6 


(( ( 


' 130 / 


The Cathedral Front, St. L6 


C( < 


* 134 


Coutances 


(( < 


' 140 


The South Porch of the Cathedral, Coutances 


<( ( 


* 146 


St. Pierre, Coutances .... 


(( < 


' 152 


Le Mans ...... 


(( ( 


' 158 


Notre Dame de la Couture, Le Mans 


<( ( 


* 164 


Angers ...... 


(( ( 


' 176 


Tour de I'Horloge, Tours 


« < 


' 184 > 


St. Gatieu, Tours ..... 


(C t 


' 188- 


] ix] 







ILLUSTRATIONS 



Blois 

Chartres from the North 

Chartres 

Rue de la Porte Guillaume, Chartres 

Orleans 

The House of Jacques Coeur, Bourges 

Bourges 

The Musee Cujas, Bourges 

The H6tel-de-Ville, Nevers 

The Port du Croux, Nevers 

Moulins 

Limoges 

Perigueux from the River 

St. Front, Perigueux . 

Angouleme 

Poitiers 

Entrance to the Harbour, La Rochelle 

The Harbour of La Rochelle 

Bordeaux 

Sens 

St. Germain, Auxerre . 

The Bridge and Cathedral, Auxerre 

A Street in Troyes 

Meaux 

The Old Mills at Meaux 

Senlis 

The Pont Marie, Paris 

Notre Dame, Paris 

St. Germain des Pres, Paris 

Pont St. Michel and Ste. Chapelle, Paris 



Facing Page 194 




i I 


202 




t < 


' 208 




( < 


' 212 




( < 


' 220 




11 t 


' 224 




t < 


' 228 




( ( 


232 




( ( 


236 




St ( 


' 240 




( ( 


' 248 




(( ( 


' 254 




( ( 


' 258 




( ( 


* 262 




( < 


' 270 




( ( 


' 274 




{ ( 


' 282 




( ( 


' 286 




( ( 


* 294 




C ( 


' 302 




( ( 


* 306 




< < 


* 310 




( ( 


' 316 




( ( 


326 




( < 


' 330 




( < 


' 338 




( ( 


' 350 




( ( 


' 366 




( ( 


' 372' 


Is ' 


( < 


' 378/ 



Ul 




A FRENCH CATHEDRAL CITY 

'HERE are in France to-day three distinct 
classes of cities — one might even add, of 
cathedral cities — and as the bishopric is a 
dignity far more usual in France than in 
England, " cathedral " may serve for the present as 
a term inclusive of many towns. 

Firstly, there is the town whose local importance 
has remained unchanged through a succession of 
centuries and an eventful history, which has added a 
modern importance to that bequeathed to it by Time. 
Such towns are Le Mans, Angers, Amiens and 
Rouen. Secondly, we find the towns whose glory 
has departed, but who still preserve the outward 
semblance of that glory, though they remind us in 
passing through them of a body without a spirit, of 
an empty house, whose inhabitants are long dead and 
have left behind them only the echoes of their past 
footsteps. These towns are a picturesque group, and 
if we go back upon the centuries, we shall find in 

[I] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

them the centre of much that has made history for 
our modern eyes to read. Look at Chartres and 
Bayeux, and Laon and Troyes, for embodiments of 
this type. And lastly, there are the cities which 
exactly reverse the foregoing state of affairs, and owe 
their growth to the kindly fostering of a later age — 
an age which has learnt wisdom more quickly than 
its predecessors, and has learnt, moreover, to love 
the whirr of engines and the busy paths of commerce 
more than the safe keeping of ancient monuments 
and the reading of history in the worn greyness of 
their stones. Among these we may count Havre; 
but of this class it is more difficult to find examples 
in France, although in England the north country is 
thick with such mushroom cities. 

The history of the growth of one Gaulish town 
may easily serve for that of another: later days de- 
cided its continued importance or its gradual decay, 
as the case might be ; and, as Freeman points out in 
his essay upon French and English towns, " the map 
of Roman Gaul survives, with but few and those 
simple changes in the ecclesiastical map of France 
down to the great Revolution." Thus the history of 
these cities affected themselves alone and not, to any 
great extent, the lands in which they stood. It is a 
salient testimony to the lasting influence of ancient 
Gaul that in most town-names some trace can be 

[2] 





ST. MARTIN, lAoN 



A FRENCH CATHEDRAL CITY 

found of the old name, either of the tribe which in- 
habited it, or of the territory belonging to that tribe ; 
and even under the Roman rule the Gallic forms did 
not entirely disappear. Later, when the Franks 
came from the East, one would suppose that they had 
names of their own for the conquered cities; but if 
this were the case, these names have not come down 
to us — all of which goes to show that the Frankish 
dominion, though it lasted on, and gave to the land 
her ablest dynasty of kings, had no real rooted influ- 
ence in the country, and that France, as relating to 
ancient Gaul, is a formal and almost an empty title. 
The Gallic cities owed their origin in the earliest 
times, naturally, to their situation. The roving 
tribes, looking for a settlement, would choose a 
camping ground either on a rocky hill, where they 
could safely entrench themselves against a possible 
enemy, or on an island in the midst of a river or 
marsh, where the surrounding fens would be an 
efficient safeguard; and it speaks well for their 
choice, that when the Romans came, skilled in the 
knowledge of war, offensive and defensive, they did 
not destroy the settlements of the conquered tribes, 
but rebuilt and fortified them according to the 
inimitable pattern of Rome, not effacing but im- 
proving what was already to hand. Instead of the 
rude Gallic huts, stately palaces rose up, with their 

[5] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

marble baths; aqueducts threw a succession of 
arches to the nearest water source, theatres sloped 
up the hill-side, bridges crossed the river, and where 
the grottoes of the Druidic or other primitive faiths 
had been, rose the columns and friezes of splendid 
temples to Jupiter and Diana and Apollo. Certainly 
it was a change for the better; and the appearance 
of many of these towns under the Caesars was 
probably much more imposing, though perhaps less 
picturesque, than that which they presented in 
mediaeval days. In the later Roman era a new 
element introduces itself. From the early Christian 
Church at Rome come missionary saints; not saints 
in those days, but often the poorest and meanest of 
the brethren, charged with a message to Gaul — 
Hilary, Martin, Dionysius, and the others. Fierce 
conflicts follow, persecutions, burnings, martyrdoms 
— Dionysius bears witness at Lutetia, Savinian and 
Potentian at Sens — and at last the first church 
arises within the city, poor and meagre very often 
in comparison with the huge pagan temples which 
it replaces, but loved and venerated by the faithful 
few, and, best of all, the origin of the grand cathe- 
drals which are now the glory of France. " The 
votaries of the new creed found a home within the 
walls of their seats of worship such as the votaries 
of the elder creed had never found within theirs. 

[6] 




THE QUAYSIDE, AMIENS 



A FRENCH CATHEDRAL CITY 

And around the church arose the dwellings of the 
bishop and his clergy, a class of men destined to 
play no small part in the history of the land." In 
the Christian city, then, we can begin to trace the 
beginnings of the mediaeval city. Other founda- 
tions sprang up in time within the walls — a baptistery 
was built, as at Aix and Poitiers, to meet the needs 
of the flocks of converts; other churches perpetuated 
the memory of some saint; among the river 
meadows some royal or saintly founder saw a fitting 
spot for a convent, and the abbey church arose, 
with its cloisters, dormitories and refectories, and 
all the other fair buildings in which the early 
brothers took such a loving pride. Then the 
bishop himself, witK his dignity growing as the 
Christian faith advanced, must be housed as befitted 
a deputy of the Holy See; and forthwith sprang up 
those lordly eveches which even now serve to remind 
us of their ancient beauty, though in some cases the 
civil arm has taken them over, and converted them 
into hotels de ville. Then came the barbarian 
inroads, first of Vandals, Huns, Franks and the 
rest, next of Normans. These attacked, but could not 
destroy, or even permanently harm, the position of 
tlie city; and when the invaders had either gone 
their way or settled down in the land, new elements 
of strength and importance were added to the town- 

[9] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

ship: castles and strongholds were built up for the 
great men who had taken possession of the chief 
cities, and the great civil or feudal power of the 
dukes and counts began to exercise its jurisdiction 
side by side with the old-established influence of the 
Church. Then, as was notably the case at Le Mans 
and Troyes, the growing commercial importance of 
a town would force a communal charter from the 
seigneur; a burgher quarter would rise, quite as 
important as the quarter of the nobles and the 
clergy, and thus the city would become trebly 
strengthened, except, indeed, when, as was some- 
times the case, one power resented the fancied 
encroachments of the other and made war upon its 
neighbours. 

This power within itself was undoubtedly all to 
the advantage of the city; but it was fatal to the 
unity of the kingdom, since it cut France up into 
a mass of separate states, any one of which could, 
on the occasion of a quarrel with the sovereign — 
and these quarrels were rather the rule than the 
exception — fortify itself by means of its count, its 
castle and its city walls, and defy the royal forces at 
its pleasure. While cathedral cities in England 
were drawing closer and closer to the king as their 
head, and thereby sinking their own strength in 
the unity of the Crown, those in France were 

[10] 



■.^wi\ '^^m 



.f 




i 



^■,J 





A STREET IN PERIGUEUX 



A FRENCH CATHEDRAL CITY 

striving at a power apart from the Crown, or, 
rather, striving to maintain a power which the 
Crown had never yet been able to incorporate 
with itself. Thus a city of France has a much 
more varied, a much more individual history than 
has the sister city in England; a story less bound 
up as part of the great whole of the history of the 
French kingdom, more concentrated within its 
own w^alls, and therefore more tangible, if it be 
desired to study it irrespective of that whole 
history. This, then, is the story of its growth from 
almost pre-historic days. Whether, as an individual 
city, it flourished after the Middle Ages had 
fortified and strengthened it, or whether it fell into 
a state of quiet, picturesque and peaceful decay, 
depended of course upon particular circumstances, 
but enough remains to make of the general history 
of the French city a fascinating though almost 
inexhaustible study, only surpassed by the study of 
each town in its separate case. 

Wars and revolutions have done their best to 
destroy what Time had kindly tried to preserve for 
our delight; nevertheless, a cathedral town in 
France of to-day is a very pleasant place, and offers 
exceptional opportunity for the study of French 
life in almost every aspect. Our business here, 
however, is with the cathedrals and the historical 

[13] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

side of the town, rather than, with the lighter 
points of view; and such things as every traveller 
will encounter in the course of his journeys, the 
crowd outside the cafes, the weekly markets, the 
festivals, civil and ecclesiastical, the quaint ways 
and speech of the peasant folk and the contretemps 
of hotel life have not only been described before, 
times without number, but are such as will be 
fairly obvious to the average observer, and, if he 
has never travelled before, will come all the more 
as a pleasant surprise if he is left to find them out 
for himself. If, as is more likely to be the case in 
this enlightened age, he is an experienced traveller, 
he will know them all by heart, and perhaps be 
inclined to cavil at having them set before him 
once again in a light which could not pretend to 
any novelty. 



[14] 



© 



BOULOGNE TO AMIENS 

OULOGNE is perhaps too near the start- 
ing point to arrest the outward-bound 
traveller ; he ranks it with Calais, Dieppe, 
and Havre, as a place to be passed 
through as quickly as possible ; and the splendid train 
service to Paris naturally makes him hesitate to break 
his journey at Boulogne. The general tendency in 
England is to despise the French railway service, and 
some guide-books even now tell us that the average 
speed of a French express is from thirty-five to 
forty-five miles an hour, also that the trains in- 
variably pass each other on the left-hand side. As 
a matter of fact, all the main lines follow the same 
rule of the road which obtains in England, and as 
to average speed, the run from Calais to Paris equals, 
if it does not exceed, that of any long-distance 
train-service in our own country, covering the 
distance of 185 miles at the rate of fifty-six miles 
an hour. 

[15] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

As a seaport and fishing centre, Boulogne is one 
of the most interesting and important towns in 
France; and its fishing-boats sail out in great 
numbers to the North Sea for the cod fishery along 
the north coast of Scotland. When the herring 
fishing begins, Boulogne adds its contingent to the 
fleets of Cornwall, to the luggers of the West Coast, 
and to the cobbles of Whitby; and on the eve of 
the departure to the fishing-ground, the fisherman's 
quarter, known as La Beuriere, is alive with the 
orgies of its sailor population. Dancing takes 
place on the quays, and short entertainments are 
held in an improvised theatre, while the rich brown- 
ochre sails of the splendid luggers and smacks are 
stretched from deck to deck, forming an awning 
under which the owners and captains meet together 
with their friends to wish success to the under- 
taking of those who " go down to the sea in ships, 
and occupy their business in great waters." 

Boulogne has the reputation of being the most 
Anglicised of French towns, and was in years gone 
by often associated with the seamy side of society. 
Many a stranger found here a convenient refuge, 
and Mr. Deuceace and other of Thackeray's heroes 
enjoyed the sea breezes of Boulogne after the mental 
strain of somewhat questionable financial manoeuvres. 

The city walls, restored in the sixteenth or 

[i6] 




THE PORTE GAYOLE, BOULOGNE 



BOULOGNE TO AMIENS 

seventeenth century, date back to 1231, and were 
built on the foundations of the ancient town of 
Bononia, generall}^ identified with the Roman 
Gesoriacum, though not on very reliable authority. 
From its position on the high grassy cliffs of 
Picardy, guarding the little river Liane and looking 
out over the waves to the white line of the English 
shore, Boulogne in other days had an importance 
quite distinct from that which we now assign to it. 
The Viking sailing down the English Channel saw 
it as one of the outposts of a new and fair land open 
to the conquest of fire and sword, and in his primi- 
tive fashion of asserting the mastery, destroyed the 
city on the cliff. Later on, these ravages were 
made good under the rule of Rolf, the " Ganger," 
by this time master of Neustria; the city was 
restored and became the head of a countship, which 
dignity it retained until late in the fifteenth century, 
when Louis XL cast envious eyes upon it, and by 
a stroke of craft approaching near to genius, united 
it to the crown of France, declaring the Blessed 
Virgin to be patroness of the town and himself her 
humble vassal, holding it under her suzerainty, 
which no man in France dared to deny. Henry VIII. 
laid siege to Boulogne in 1544 and gained it for 
England; but the day of English prestige in France 
had gone by, and her right of possession was of very 

[19] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

short duration, for in the next reign Boulogne was 
given back to France, and Calais alone remained to 
England of the spoils of the Hundred Years' War. 

Above the present town rises the monument 
known as the " Colonne de la Grande Armee," 
a memorial of the first Napoleon's encampment at 
Boulogne in 1804, and of his magnificent prepara- 
tions for the invasion of England. In the Chateau, 
which dates from the thirteenth century and is now 
used as barracks, Napoleon III. was confined after 
his abortive descent upon the town in 1840. It 
was the second of these desperate attempts to 
dethrone the " constitutional king " Louis Philippe 
and reinstate the Imperial dynasty. The expedition 
to Strasburg four years before had at least been 
attended by this much success, that the young 
aspirant was enthusiastically welcomed by the mili- 
tary portion of the population; but the descent 
upon Boulogne, planned at the time when the body 
of the first Emperor was being brought from St. 
Helena to Paris, was a failure from first to last. 
The little band of conspirators, about fifty in 
number, with their tame eagle — a symbol of the 
Imperial power — landed at the port, but found no 
adherents, and within a few hours of their landing 
were under arrest. Napoleon himself underwent 
trial before the Chamber of Peers, and after a short 

[20] 



BOULOGNE TO AMIENS 

imprisonment, as we have seen, in the Chateau, 
was sent to the castle of Ham-sur-Somme. 

Three out of the four original gates of the ancient 
city still remain, notably the Porte Gayole, the 
rooms in whose flanking towers were at one time 
used as prisons. In the room above the gateway 
were formerly held the meetings of the Guyale, 
2i reunion of ancient associations of merchants — ■ 
what would now be called a chamber of commerce 
— ^and from this the gate-house was called Porte 
Gayole. 

Of the cathedral at Boulogne it is difficult to 
speak with any enthusiasm. It stands as a memo- 
rial of the Renaissance work of that period which 
we should call early Victorian; but like so many 
modern churches, it possesses an ancient crypt, part 
of which belongs to the twelfth century, showing 
that the foundations at least are those of a Gothic 
church, which was probably destroyed during the 
Revolution. 

On the journey to Amiens the train passes 
through Abbeville on the Somme, a place some 
sixty years ago sacred to geologists, who, led by the 
distinguished Boucher de Perthes, Prestwick and 
Evans, extracted from the river bed and neighbour- 
ing peat and undisturbed gravels, not only remains 
of beaver, bear, &c., but also innumerable hand- 

[21] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

fashioned flints and stone hatchets, and made the 
valley of the Somme up to Amiens and St. Acheul 
classic ground to the antiquary and an object of 
pilgrimage to the student of pre-historic man. 

In the early days of the Frank kings this quiet 
little town upon the Somme had acquired enough 
importance for fortification, and its city walls were 
built by Hugh Capet. Later on, after Peter the 
Hermit had lifted up his voice in Europe, and 
every man who called himself a true warrior turned 
his face eastward to Palestine, Abbeville was 
destined to play her part in the affairs of the 
great world outside her walls, and to share in the 
fortunes of that company of men whose watch- 
word was " Jerusalem." In the first two Crusades, 
when the crusading spirit was as yet ardent and 
pure and had not degenerated into a desire for 
plunder and rapine, the leaders met within the 
gates of Abbeville before setting out to the Holy 
Land. 

One can well imagine the stir their pres- 
ence made within the quiet precincts of the little 
town, the excitement of the townfolk, the eager 
crowding of the youth of the place around the 
standards of these great chiefs, Godfrey de Bouillon, 
destined to become king of Jerusalem; dark, pas- 
sionate Robert of Normandy, son of the Con- 

[22] 



BOULOGNE TO AMIENS 

queror; Hugh of Vermandois, brother to the 
King of France; Stephen of Blois; Raymond of 
Toulouse; Robert of Flanders, he who was called 
the " Sword and Lance of the Christians " ; and, 
lastly, Tancred the chivalrous, the very embodi- 
ment of the spirit of the crusaders — and a " very 
perfect, gentle knight." 

For nearly two hundred years the English ruled 
Abbeville. When, in 1272, Eleanor of Castile was 
married to Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I., 
the town was included in the estates which she 
brought to England as her dowry; and being near 
the sea coast, and consequently within easy reach of 
England, its new lords were able to retain their 
hold upon the city even after the disastrous close 
of the Hundred Years' War had given almost 
every English conquest back to France. Towards 
the end of the fifteenth century it fell into the 
hands of the Burgundian party, but the French 
crown finally reclaimed it in 1477. Since that 
time it has twice seen an international alliance 
concluded within its gates. In 15 14, Anne of 
Brittany, the wife of Louis XII. — " Pater Patria " 
— died without having an heir in the direct line, 
and her husband, unwilling that the crown should 
go to Frangois d'Angouleme, determined to take 
another wife, and made advances to Henry VIII. 

[23] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

for the hand of his beautiful sister, Mary Tudor; 
and after the negotiations were completed, they 
were married at Abbeville. As far as Louis's pur- 
pose went, however, the marriage was a failure, as 
the King died a few months later, and the Due 
d'Angouleme, his son-in-law, ascended his throne 
as Francois I^"". To his reign belongs the second 
alliance in the history of Abbeville, the pact signed 
between the King of France and Cardinal Wolsey, 
on behalf of Henry VIIL, against the common 
enemy, Charles V. — a figure so commanding, so 
infinitely greater than his contemporaries, that 
beside him the brilliancy of Frangois, the gallantry 
of Henry, and the pomp and magnificence of his 
favourite Wolsey, seemed entirely eclipsed, and the 
three men appear almost as puppets, unstable and 
vacillating, now the closest of friends, and now 
the bitterest of enemies. 

Abbeville still maintains many of the old pic- 
turesque landmarks which made it a favourite 
sketching ground for Prout and for Ruskin. The 
market-place is surrounded by a number of houses 
with high pitched gables, coloured in various tints 
of white, grey and pale green. Some beautiful draw- 
ings by Ruskin, executed in pencil and tint, which 
have lately been exhibited to the public, bear testi- 
mony to its picturesqueness, of which a great deal 

[24] 




^1 



pEES!" j^ 



i 


1,1 ; ■■ 


ml * 

-in>* — - 


■MTMt 










ABBEVILLE 



BOULOGNE TO AMIENS 

still remains in the side streets and along the river 
front. 

The church of St. Wolfran is late Flamboyant, 
and is looked upon by Ruskin as " a wonderful proof 
of the fearlessness of a living architecture," for, say 
v^hat one will of it, that Flamboyant of France, how- 
ever morbid, was as vivid and intense in its imagi- 
nation as ever any phase of mortal mind. The nave 
consists of bays having a high clerestory and a 
triforium screened by rich sixteenth century carving. 
The ribs of the vaulting fall sheer down without im- 
posts or break of any kind. The low chancel and 
eastern termination of the church are unworthy of 
the splendid carving of the western fagade. 

The approach to Amiens offers no coup d'cBil of 
clustering towers or spires such as an English or 
Norman cathedral city usually gives us, and the 
Cathedral itself is hidden as we pass into the heart 
of the town along the Rue des Trois Cailloux, a 
street which is said to follow the alignment of the 
old city walls. Ruskin advises the traveller, how- 
ever short his time may be, to devote it, not to 
the contemplation of arches and piers and coloured 
glass, but to the woodwork of the chancel, which 
he considers the most beautiful carpenter's work 
of the Flamboyant period. Note should be taken of 
two windows in the Chapel of the Cardinal de la 

[27] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Grange, built about 1375. These are very interest- 
ing as foreshadowing in their detail that style of 
architecture — the Flamboyant — ^which obtained in 
France in the fifteenth century and was contem- 
poraneous with the English Perpendicular. 

The two western towers look little more than 
heavily built buttresses, and as towers are not very 
appropriate in design, being not square, but oblong 
in plan. They rise little above the ridge line of the 
nave, whose crossing with the transepts is marked 
by a beautiful fleche^ which Ruskin, however, de- 
scribes as " merely the caprice of a village car- 
penter." As he further declares, the Cathedral of 
Amiens is " in dignity inferior to Chartres, in sub- 
limity to Beauvais, in decorative splendour to 
Rheims, and in loveliness of figure sculpture to 
Bourges," yet it fully deserves the name given to it 
by Viollet-le-Duc — "The Parthenon of Gothic 
architecture." 

The height of the nave and aisles is, according 
to Mr. Francis Bond in his book " Gothic Archi- 
tecture in England," respectively nearly three times 
their span, and the vastness of the fenestration is 
very striking, particularly in the clerestory, through 
whose lower mouldings the triforium is negotiated, 
thus dividing each bay into two storeys, clerestory 
and pier arch, instead of into three, clerestory 

[28] 




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BOULOGNE TO AMIENS 

triforium and pier arch. This gives the effect 
after which the French architect strove: one vast 
blaze of light and colour through the upper v^in- 
dows, coming not only from the clerestory, but 
from the glazed triforium also; the magnificent 
deep blue glass typifying the splendour of the 
heavens. On the other hand, in a sunny clime, build- 
ers cared less for light, and preferred the effect of 
a blind triforium v^hich throws the choir below into 
gloomy and mysterious shadow. Thus we see that 
upon the design of the triforium depends to a very 
great extent the effect of the light and shade of the 
interior of a great church. 

Once, being personally conducted by the dean over 
one of the cathedrals of the west of England, the 
writer was suddenly called upon to give the deriva- 
tion of " triforium." The word is applied to the 
ambulatory or passage, screened by an arcade, which 
runs between the pier arches and clerestory windows, 
and is considered to refer to the three openings, or 
spaces, trince fores, into which the arcading was 
sometimes divided. It probably has nothing to do 
with openings in multiples of three, nor with a 
Latinised form of " thoroughfare," as suggested in 
Parker's Glossary, although the main idea is that of 
a passage running round the inside of a church, either 
as at Westminster, in the form of an ambulatory 

[31] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

chamber, or of a gallery pierced through the main 
walls, from whence the structure can be inspected 
without the trouble of using ladders or erecting 
scaffolding. M. Enlart in his " Manuel d'Arche- 
ologie Frangaise," derives the word from a French 
adjective " trifore," or " trifoire," through the Latin 
" transforatus," a passage pierced through the thick- 
ness of the wall; and this idea of a passage-way is 
certainly suggested by an old writer, Gervase, who, 
in his description of the new Cathedral of Canter- 
bury, rebuilt after the fire, alludes to the increased 
number of passages round the church under the 
word " triforia." " Ibi triforium unum, hie duo in 
choro, et in ala ecclesiae tercium." 

On the north side of the Cathedral flows the 
Somme, and there is perhaps no better means of 
realising the great height and mass of the building 
than by walking along the river banks, whence we 
see the old houses, great and small, rise tier above 
tier under the quiet grey outline of this " giant in 
repose." 

In an extract from his private diary Ruskin 
gives the following description of this walk along 
the river, showing it in an aspect at once squalid 
and picturesque: "Amiens, May nth. — I had a 
happy walk here this afternoon, down among the 
branching currents of the Somme: it divides into 

[32] 




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BOULOGNE TO AMIENS 

five or six, shallow, green, and not over-whole- 
some; some quite narrow and foul, running 
beneath clusters of fearful houses, reeling masses of 
rotten timber; and a few mere stumps of pollard 
willow sticking out of the banks of soft mud, only 
retained in shape of bank by being shored up with 
timbers; and boats like paper boats, nearly as thin 
at least, for the costermongers to paddle about in 
among the weeds, the water soaking through the 
lath bottoms, and floating the dead leaves from the 
vegetable baskets with which they were loaded. 
Miserable little back yards, opening to the water, 
with steep stone steps down to it, and little plat- 
forms for the ducks; and separate duck staircases, 
composed of a sloping board with cross bits of 
wood leading to the ducks' doors; and sometimes 
a flower-pot or two on them, or even a flower — one 
group, of wall-flowers and geraniums, curiously 
vivid, being seen against the darkness of a dyer's 
backyard, who had been dyeing black, and all was 
black in his yard but the flowers, and they fiery and 
pure; the water by no means so, but still working 
its way steadily over the weeds, until it narrowed 
into a current strong enough to turn two or three 
windmills, one working against the side of an old 
Flamboyant Gothic church, whose richly traceried 
buttresses sloped down into the filthy stream ; all ex- 

[35] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

quisitely picturesque, and no less miserable. We 
delight in seeing the figures in these boats, pushing 
them about the bits of blue water, in Prouf s draw- 
ings; but as I looked to-day at the unhealthy face 
and melancholy mien of the man in the boat pushing 
his load of peat along the ditch, and of the people, 
men as well as women, who sat spinning gloomily at 
the cottage doors, I could not help feeling how many 
persons must pay for my picturesque subject and 
happy walk." 

In his " Miscellaneous Studies " Walter Pater 
says : " The builders of the Church seem to have 
projected no very noticeable towers; though it is 
conventional to regret their absence, especially with 
visitors from England, where indeed cathedral and 
other towers are apt to be good and really make 
their mark . . . The great western towers are lost 
in the west front, the grandest, perhaps the earliest, 
of its species — three profound sculptured portals; a 
double gallery above, the upper gallery carrying 
colossal images of twenty-two kings of the house 
of Judah, ancestors of our Lady; then the great rose; 
above it the singers' gallery, half marking the gable 
of the nave, and uniting at their topmost storeys the 
twin, but not exactly equal or similar towers, oddly 
oblong in plan as if meant to carry pyramids or 
spires. In most cases, those early Pointed churches 

[36] 



BOULOGNE TO AMIENS 

are entangled, here and there, by the construction of 
the old round-arched style, the heavy, Norman or 
other, Romanesque chapel or aisle, side by side, 
though in strange contrast, with the soaring new 
Gothic nave or transept. But the older manner of 
the round arch, the plein-cintre, Amiens has nowhere 
or almost nowhere, a trace. The Pointed style, fully 
pronounce'd, but in all the purity of its first period, 
found here its completest expression." 



[37] 



LAON, RHEIMS AND SOISSONS 



w 



E passed Laon in the dark," is a confes- 
sion frequently made by travellers. 
The Geneva express used to stop here 
for dinner, and during the brief inter- 
val allowed for coffee and cigarettes many a traveller 
has gazed up at the great buttressed hill, silhoutted 
against a twilight sky, and wondered what manner 
of place it might be, half-fortress, half-church, rising 
some three hundred and fifty feet out of the plain 
with its crest of towers and houses. 

If Paris is the type of the island cities of Gaul, 
surely Laon may be called the type of the hill 
cities. " Laon is the very pride of that class of 
town which out of Gaulish hill-forts grew into 
Roman and mediaeval cities. None stands so proudly 
on its height; none has kept its ancient character so 
little changed to our own day. The town still keeps 
itself within the walls which fence in the hill-top, 
and whatever there is of suburb has grown up at the 
foot, apart from the ancient city." 

[38] 



LAON, RHEIMS, AND SOISSONS 

Geologically, Laon is a limestone island in the 
denuded plain of Soissonais and Bearnais, and was a 
Celtic stronghold, as its name, a contraction of 
Laudunum, shows, dun standing for a hill fortress. 
The town resembles in plan a blunt crescent, 
one horn of which is occupied by the cathedral and 
citadel. An electric railway connects the upper 
with the lower town, and a street from the market- 
place leads through the Parvis to the very beautiful 
west fagade of the church. Cathedral, strictly 
speaking, it is no longer, for at Laon we have 
another of those instances, always somewhat melan- 
choly, of a deserted bishopstool. Here it is almost 
more pathetic, when we remember that the Bishop 
of Laon was second in importance only to the 
Archbishop of Rheims himself, and, going back to 
the days of William Longsword, we find Laon not 
only a bishopric, but a capital town — one of the great 
trio of cities which ruled northern France and fought 
amongst themselves for the chief mastery. There 
was the Duke of Paris in his capital ; there was the 
Duke of the Normans, an outsider who by force of 
arms had settled at Rouen, and was a source of con- 
tinual trembling to the Parisian duchy; and there 
was the King of the Franks on the hill-top at Laon, 
nominally suzerain of both the others, but really in 
daily fear lest one or other, or both, should swoop 

[39] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

down and storm his hill-fortress and add the royal 
city of Laon to lands which in those days went to any 
man who could get possession of them. 

Tradition says that St. Beat, who lived towards 
the close of the third century, gathered his faithful 
together in a small chapel hewn out of the rock, 
over which was built later on the cathedral church 
of Notre Dame. This church, according to M. 
Daboval, seems to have been still in existence in 
the fifth century, and was even then of sufficient 
importance to attract thither many scholars who 
wished to study the Holy Scriptures. In the 
twelfth century the cathedral, Bishop's palace, and 
many other churches were burnt down, owing to 
communal troubles during the bishopric of Gaudry. 
The present cathedral has one specially distinctive 
feature: the east end, instead of being apsidal, 
follows the English type of a square termination. 
There are other churches in the neighbourhood 
built on a similar plan, which suggests the possibility 
of English architects having been engaged in their 
construction. Laon is, however, in one important 
feature, a variant from the common arrangement in 
English churches of the eastern wall. It has there 
a great circular window only, instead of the im- 
mense wall of glass usually adopted in this country. 
The bays of the aisles are four-storied, in pairs, 

[40] 



LAON, RHEIMS, AND SOISSONS 

with alternating piers, and of great beauty, the ribs 
of the vaulting springing from clusters of light shafts. 
There is a large ambulatory over the aisles, " which 
are built up in two stories, both of them vaulted, and 
the upper vaulted aisle giving valuable abutment to 
the clerestory wall." This internal arrangement ap- 
pears to have been in favour with the architects of 
the early French Gothic style. 

The twenty-eight side chapels are enclosed by 
some very lovely screens of a later date, which, 
being erected during the latter part of the sixteenth 
century, and of Renaissance design, are considered 
by the ultra-Gothic mind to clash with the rest of 
the cathedral. Nevertheless they are very beautiful 
in proportion and appropriateness, reticent in design, 
and admirable in execution. 

Viollet-le-Duc, in his review of the cathedral of 
Laon, says that it has a certain ring of democracy 
and is not of that religious aspect that attaches to 
Chartres, Amiens, or Rheims. From the distance it 
has more the appearance of a chateau than of a 
church: its nave is low when compared with other 
Gothic naves, and its general outside appearance 
shows evidence of something brutal and savage ; and 
as far as its colossal sculptures of animals, oxen and 
horses, which appear to guard the upper parts of the 
towers, are concerned, they combine to give an im- 

[41] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

pression more of terror than of a religious sentiment. 
One does not feel, as one regards Notre Dame de 
Laon, the stamp of an advanced civilisation, as at 
Paris or at Amiens. Everything is rude and rough ; 
it is the monument of a people enterprising and en- 
ergetic and full of great virility. They are the same 
men as are seen building elsewhere in the neighbour- 
hood — a race of giants. 

As we approach Rheims from Paris, Laon, or 
Soissons, there is very little sign of the vineyards 
which one associates with the champagne country. 
The " vine-clad " hills lie to the south in the 
Epernay district. Here to the north of the city we 
see only well-watered, well-timbered country, lush 
meadow-lands, and even market-gardens, reminding 
us more of the upper reaches of the Thames valley 
than of a wine-growing country. 

Rheims chiefly recommends itself to the English 
mind as the place where the kings of France were 
crowned. It would seem also as though the fact of 
being crowned at Rheims was a patent of royalty, so 
to speak, to the kings themselves, since, as Freeman 
remarks, their rights were never disputed after their 
anointing with the sainte ampoule. " Every king 
of the French crowned at Rheims," he says, " has 
been at once a Frenchman by birth and the undis- 
puted heir of the founder of the dynasty. Hugh and 

[42] 



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LAON, RHEIMS, AND SOISSONS 

his son Robert, neither of them born to royalty, were 
crowned, the one at Noyon, the other at Orleans. 
Henry the Fourth, the one king whose right was 
disputed, was crowned at Chartres." 

Like Soissons, like Laon, like Bourges even, 
Rheims has carried down to modern times the 
remains of that prestige which must always attach 
to a royal city, even though the royalty have long 
ago departed from it. It moreover brings us once 
again to the story of Joan the Maid. It is the 
scene of her mission's fulfilment, of France's triumph, 
of the beginning of that monarchy which Louis XL 
established in its complete form and which the later 
Bourbons wrecked; and here, when the crown is safe 
on her king's head and Charles VII. has his own 
again, does Joan ask her reward — permission to re- 
turn to her flocks in the fields of Domremy. And 
but that this boon was too simple to grant, Joan's 
story might have ended with this, her greatest 
triumph, instead of in the market-place at Rouen. 

After the relief of Orleans, Joan had captured 
Jargeau and Beaugency, and defeated the English in 
a great fight at Patay, in which Talbot, the English 
leader, was taken prisoner. Having cleared these 
last obstacles from Charles's path, she now set forth 
to tell him that all was ready and to persuade him 
to make all speed to Rheims. Speed, however, was 

[45] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

« 

what the Dauphin either could not or would not 
make; and it is always the most unsatisfactory part 
of the history of Joan the Maid that when she had 
pressed on, scarcely resting by night or day, to win 
back his kingdom for him, Charles seemed in no 
hurry to enter upon his honours, but preferred 
dawdling with his favourites in Touraine; and it 
was with the greatest difficulty that he was per- 
suaded to ride to Rheims with Joan. Selfish indul- 
gence, foolish favouritism, petty jealousies — were 
such things as these to stand in the path from which 
the Maid had swept all other barriers? Joan, how- 
ever, was resolute. In hopes of rousing him she 
withdrew her army into the country, and this 
retreat had the desired effect. Charles the Lag- 
gard allowed himself to be brought into Rheims, 
and on July 17 Joan, banner in hand, stood by his 
side in the cathedral while the Archbishop anointed 
him with the holy oil and crowned him Charles VII. 
of France. Here, so far as Rheims is concerned, 
the story of Joan is at an end. 

Two papal councils were held at Rheims, in the 
days when the Galilean Church was rising to its 
highest power, though it had not yet gone so far 
as to resent the yoke of the Papacy. Pope Leo IX. 
in 1049 entered the city in full state to consecrate 
for Abbot Heremas his newly-built monastery of 

[46] 



LAON, RHEIMS, AND SOISSONS 

Saint Remi, and followed up the consecration by 
convoking a vast synod composed of nearly every 
prelate in Europe, archbishops, bishops, abbots, 
clergy, and laity from every quarter, who sat at 
Rheims for six days; but their business seems to 
have been connected only with the usual canonical 
laws. The later council, which took place in 1119 
and was presided over by Calixtus, appears to have 
occupied itself chiefly with quarrels between Henry 
of England and Louis of France on matters not even 
ecclesiastical. It further confirmed the Truce of 
God which had been imposed at Caen sixty years 
before, and patched up a peace between the two 
kings, after an interview between Henry and 
Calixtus at Gisors, in which the English king took 
care to make his case good before the Pope and to 
represent that all his incursions upon the territory 
of Louis had been made solely from religious 
motives. 

Rheims boasts as one of its early bishops the 
saint Remigius, who in the fifth century baptised 
Clovis here with great pomp, and who received 
from heaven, as the legend has it, a flask of oil 
wherewith to anoint his king before admitting him 
into the Church, with the stern injunction, " Burn 
now that which thou hast worshipped and worship 
that which thou hast burnt." This flask was pre- 

[47] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

served as one of the Church's most precious relics 
until the general devastation at the time of the 
Revolution, when it v^as broken to pieces by a 
fanatic. At the time of the consecration of 
Charles X. it reappeared in a mysterious fashion, 
and is now shown in the Tresor of the cathedral with 
various other relics. 

It is a sad fact to record that the most beautiful 
cathedral fagade ever built is now almost entirely 
hidden by scaffolding necessary for the restoration of 
the building; and, judging by the appearance of the 
timbering and the paucity of workmen, it is not yes- 
terday that the work was commenced, nor is it by 
to-morrow that it will be completed. 

In the early part of the thirteenth century 
Robert de Coucy was entrusted with the rebuilding 
of the cathedral after the complete destruction of the 
early church by fire. He built it on a simple plan 
of a vast choir, no transepts, and a rather narrow 
nave. " Cet edifice a toute la force de la Cathedral 
de Chartres, sans en avoir la lourdeur; il reunit enfin 
les veritables conditions de la beaute dans les arts, 
la puissance et la grace; il est d'ailleurs construit en 
beaux materiaux, savamment appareilles, et I'on 
retrouve dans toutes ses parties un soin et une 
recherche fort rares a une epoque ou I'on batissait 
avec une grande rapidite et souvent avec des res- 

[48] 



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LAON, RHEIMS, AND SOISSONS 

sources insuffisantes." — Viollet-le-Duc. The beauti- 
ful portals, " deep and cavernous," record by their 
thousand sculptures, in a clear and impressive man- 
ner, the creation of the world, the whole history of 
the Old Testament, the life of our Saviour and the 
redemption of mankind, and convey to all who pass 
by this great object-lesson of their faith. The tym- 
pana of these porches are glazed instead of being 
filled in with stone. This was done to guard against 
the possible breaking of the doorway lintel, which, 
if large, might very well give way under the weight 
of the superincumbent mass of stone. 

Mr. Bond, referring to the deeply recessed 
porches of the French cathedrals — which, if we 
exclude the Galilees, find few analogues in the 
English churches — considers them as lineal descen- 
dants of the ancient narthex. " As a rule we did 
not care to develop the western doorways. The 
reason may be that our churches are all compara- 
tively low; to give west doorways, therefore, any 
considerable elevation would be at the expense of 
the western windows. We needed western light 
badly in our English naves, especially in the twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries, and preferred to develop 
the western window at the expense of the western 
doorway, reaching in the end such a facade as that 
of St. George's, Windsor." 

[51] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

The bays of the nave consist of large clerestory- 
windows filled with glorious deep blue glass, a small 
triforium and stilted pier arches ; a very short chancel 
of only two bays and chevet hardly gives room for 
the priests and choristers, the sacrarium is therefore 
lengthened westwards and projects into the transepts. 

To the south of the Cathedral lies the interesting 
Abbey Church of St. Remi, built in the eleventh 
century. Many of the French cathedral towns are 
fortunate in the possession of either an abbey or 
collegiate church, which existed some two or three 
centuries before the cathedral itself was built. At 
Nevers is the church of St. Etienne, at Evreux St. 
Taurin, at Tours St. Martin. At Angers and other 
places the old Romanesque basilicas are still to be 
found. Rheims has for its parent church the 
basilica of St. Remi. The western towers are 
Romanesque, and one of them has been left more 
or less unrestored; the interior has all the impres- 
siveness of the basilica design; the pier arcades 
and triforium of the nave elevation occupy the 
whole space up to the springing of the barrel vault, 
and pilasters are carried down to the pier capitals, 
where they rest on quaint corbels of very early 
design. Like churches constructed in the early 
days, St. Remi has double aisles on either side of 
the nave; the choir is brought westwards to over- 

[52] 



LAON, RHEIMS, AND SOISSONS 

lap the nave arches, an arrangement often found in 
short chancelled churches; the east end is peri- 
apsidal in plan, and the windows are filled with fine 
blue glass. Ferguson does not give France the 
credit of having many fine Romanesque churches 
sufficient to satisfy the splendid tastes of the twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries, but he makes an exception 
in the case of St. Remi, and declares it to be " a 
vast and noble basilica of the early part of the 
eleventh century, presenting considerable points of 
similarity to those of Burgundy." 

Rheims has enjoyed for a long time popularity 
amongst travellers. As far back as a hundred and 
twenty years ago a writer, describing the town and 
its hotel accommodation, says : " The streets are 
almost all broad, strait and well built, equal in that 
respect to any I have seen; and the inn, the Hotel 
de Moulinet, is so large and well served as not to 
check the emotions raised by agreeable objects, by 
giving an impulse to contrary vibrations in the 
bosom of the traveller, which at inns in France is 
too often the case. . . . We have about half a 
dozen real English dishes that exceed anything in 
my opinion to be met with in France; by English 
dishes I mean a turbot and lobster sauce, ham and 
chicken, a haunch of venison, turkey and oysters, 
and after these there is an end of an English table. 

[53] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

It is an idle prejudice to class roast beef among 
them, for there is not better beef in the world than 
at Paris. . . . The French are cleaner in their 
persons, and the English in their houses." 

To look at Soissons to-day, with its pleasant 
walks and modern houses, few people would guess 
it to have played an important part in the history 
of north-eastern France. Yet that pleasant, modern 
appearance is itself a proof of what the town 
endured in earlier days. So fierce was the struggle 
it had for existence, that the old Soissons has 
almost worn itself out, and, seen from the outside 
at least, a new and prosperous town would seem to 
have taken its place. It might well be called the 
city of sieges^ for few towns have suffered more in 
this respect. From Roman days down to the 
Franco-Prussian war the place has seemed good and 
desirable from soldiers and conquerors, and has had 
to pay penalty for its splendid position on the Aisne. 
Both Caesar and Napoleon recognised its importance 
as a military station, though a stretch of eighteen 
hundred years divided the Soissons of one general 
to the Soissons of the other. Like Laon, it was for 
some time a royal seat; and it was here that Clovis 
the Frank defeated Syagrius, " Romanorum Rex," 
in 486, and turned a Roman into a Prankish king- 

[54] 




mtr^ ' -*"'«».<»«»»i>«,^* 




RHEIMS 



LAON, RHEIMS, AND SOISSONS 

dom, in which Soissons was for some time the capital. 
It was in the Abbey of St. Medard, which, except for 
some subterranean buildings, is now destroyed, that 
Louis le Debonnair was twice imprisoned by his 
unnatural children; and on the walls of one of these 
dungeons have been found some verses, apparently a 
description of the unfortunate prisoner, but dating 
only from the fifteenth century. 

During the " Hundred Days " Soissons was 
twice taken and twice retaken in the course of a 
month. Bliicher laid siege to the town in 1814, and 
but for a sudden surrender on the part of the gov- 
ernor, which gave it into his hands for the time, it 
would probably have been annihilated by Napoleon, 
who, as matters turned out, had not time to come up 
with the Prussian Army. In 1870 another Prussian 
force entered the town under the Duke of Mecklen- 
burg, after a siege which closes the roll of Soissons' 
struggles. 

On both occasions of our visiting Soissons, we 
came away with the feeling that the interior of the 
Cathedral of Notre Dame was even more impressive 
than that of Rheims. It is, indeed, a worthy rival to 
its neighbouring sister church; the beautiful propor- 
tions of the nave, the simplicity and purity of the 
carved capitals, the splendid glass, render it one of 
the most beautiful cathedrals of France. There is a 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

lovely little chapel in the salle capitulaire at the 
west end, approached by a cloister, early Gothic in 
design, with its vaulting supported by two graceful 
columns, which reminds one of some of the chapter 
houses of our English cathedrals. 

In the Place du Cloitre is a doorway into the 
Cathedral, with a graceful pediment enclosing a 
high-springing Gothic tympanum, which is glazed. 
The mouldings of the arch have alternating 
crocketted courses, and the capitals are carved to 
represent vine leaves and grapes. It is not easy to 
understand why so beautiful a porch should occupy 
so obscure a position, unless it were in the early 
days some special entrance for the bishops or for 
the canons. 

On the south side there is a Transition, semi- 
circular chapel or apse, with a roof lower than that 
of the rest of the Cathedral. A low clerestory, with 
three lights, and a small triforium, whose base rakes 
with the main triforium of the church, form the 
upper members of the elevation. Below there is a 
graceful three-arched ambulatory, large and open, 
spreading backwards over a vaulted chapel. The 
main arches, simple and delicate in design, complete 
the whole bay. 

Soissons was laid out on a plan which recalls the 
plan of Noyon. Its south transept, as at Noyon, 

[S8] 



'^li* 







CO 



LAON, RHEIMS, AND SOISSONS 

dating from the end of the twelfth century, is 
rounded and flanked by a circular chapel. Although 
it is doubtful whether the Cathedral of Soissons was 
built in the latter part of the twelfth century, or only 
commenced at that time, it is certain that the nave 
and choir have the distinct appearance of thirteenth- 
century design. During this period, however, a 
kind of uncertainty existed in the planning of the 
religious edifices. These were constructed on a vast 
scale, and emancipated themselves from the restricted 
Romanesque design in obedience to the religious 
movement which declared itself during the reigns of 
Louis le Jeune and Philippe Auguste, but the cathe- 
dral type had not yet been created. The require- 
ments of the nascent ceremonial were not yet 
fulfilled. 

The once magnificent and now ruined Abbey of 
St. Jean des Vignes is situated on the hill facing 
the entrance to the town from the station. The west 
end only remains, surmounted by two towers with 
spires. " These are a great ornament to the town, 
and were spared at the entreaty of the citizens when 
the ruthless democrats destroyed the rest. The towers 
and the portal are probably of the thirteenth century, 
the spires more modern." They were much damaged 
in the Franco-Prussian war, when the town was 
bombarded. 

[6i] 



fi 



ROUEN 

PUEN is a town witH two faces, ancient 
and modern, and the face which it appar- 
ently considers the most becoming is the 
modern one. The ancient, historic face, 
which the town wore when Joan of Arc rode through, 
is hidden away as though it were out of fashion, and 
it is to be found, not in the broad streets, but in lanes, 
courts and alleys, where the way grows narrow and 
the houses meet overhead. Rouen, the chef-lieu of 
a department and fourth on the list of French ports, 
finds more important business on hand than dream- 
ing itself back into the past, and, sacrificing the old 
life to the new, or, rather, building up a new life 
round the old, has made of itself a busy, thriving 
commercial town on the banks of that river up which 
the beak-headed ships of Rolf the Ganger sailed a 
thousand years ago to destroy and to conquer. But 
the town's history is only put aside, not forgotten ; in- 
deed, there is too much of it to forget. The records 

[62] 



ROUEN 

of Rouen go back before the Roman era in Gaul ; the 
Romans found it as Ratuma or Ratumacos, and then, 
Romanising the name, as they did everything else, 
made it into Rotomagus. Even in these early days it 
was a capital city, the headquarters of the Velio- 
cassian tribe, though not of primary importance. 
Later, by the end of the third century A. D., we find 
it the chief city of the province Lugdunensis Secunda, 
and presently an archiepiscopal see, with an arch- 
bishop (now of course a saint) to guide it in matters 
spiritual. 

Saint Mellon and his successors made a goodly 
record for about five centuries. They were a 
thoroughgoing race, these early bishops of Rouen, 
with the zeal of the Christian Fathers fresh upon 
them, and their very names have a strong, vigorous 
sound : Avitian, Victrix, Godard, Pretextat, Remain, 
Ouen, of whom the memory yet remains to Rouen 
in the names of church, street and tower. After this 
long line of bishops came a bad time for Rouen. 
These were the days when the lands to the south- 
west seemed good and pleasant to the Vikings, the 
fierce Northmen who in after days were to give their 
names to Normandy. England had already been 
over-run with them; first by Jutes and Saxons, then 
by the fiercer Danes, who in their turn pushed out 
the Saxons. Only a few miles south of England was 

[63] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

another land just as fair, with a river easily navigable 
even to the great Northern ships, and thriving towns, 
rich and full of booty for Northern plunderers. 
Rouen, peaceful and prosperous, was yet dangerously 
near the sea, and the year 841 saw the dreaded prow 
of Oger the Dane coming slowly up the Seine, scat- 
tering to right and left all lesser craft, while the 
terrible war song, which England already knew and 
feared, rose and fell upon the wind. This was only 
the beginning. Long fiery years followed, years of 
ravages, bloodshed and burning, when human laws 
were in abeyance and the only rule was that of might. 
Thirty-five years after Oger's invasion came the 
famous Rolf the Ganger, who laid waste the land 
anew, until, in 912, Charles the Simple was forced to 
treat with him at Saint Clair-sur-Epte and to cede to 
him the duchy of Neustria or Normandy. Rolf then 
embraced Christianity, and, with the land in his pos- 
session, seemed determined to show the despised 
Franks how a Northman could govern. In point of 
fact the dukedom, as handed over by Charles, was 
practically represented by Rouen alone; that is, 
Rouen apart from the Bessin and the Cotentin, and 
all the adjacent lands which we now include under 
the name of Normandy. Further, it did not really 
belong to Charles. Neustria was part of the great 
duchy of Paris, and the cession of it to Rolf cut off 

[64] 



ROUEN 

Paris from all access to the sea. But that Duke Rob- 
ert had the sense to hold his tongue, probably from 
fear of losing Paris as well, there might have been 
serious results. As it was. Northern France fell into 
three divisions — the royal city of Laon, the duchy of 
Paris, and the settlement of Rolf at Rouen. In these 
three cities centres most of the subsequent history of 
Normandy. 

As for what Rolf actually did for Rouen, that 
remains to be seen rather from the after state of 
affairs. " The founder of the Rouen colony," Free- 
man says, " is a great man who must be content to be 
judged in the main by the results of his actions," 
Rolf is not in the least a vague or shadowy person- 
ality, but it is noticeable how he has grown to us out 
of a great tangle of myths and very little fact. All 
we have to go upon is the not very authentic Roman 
de Rou, a few Norse legends, and sundry brief allu- 
sions by later French writers, who class him, together 
with all the Rouennais, under the contemptuous 
term Pirate. It was a well-ordered, strong, self-de- 
pendent colony that he handed down to the long line 
of his successors. These carried on bravely the tra- 
ditions of their founder and brought up a hardy race 
of fighters, although Rouen itself was never thor- 
oughly Teutonic, never at least since the very early 
days of Rolf's colony. The religion, the language, 

[65] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

and many of the customs of the French at Laon were 
grafted on to the Northmen of Rouen by their leader, 
and thus the town stood as much apart from the rest 
of Neustria as from the Franks themselves. After 
the death of Rolf and of his successor, William 
Longsword, Louis from beyond Sea, of the race of 
Charlemagne, ruled at Laon, and cast envious eyes 
on Normandy, even occupying Rouen for some time 
during the minority of Richard the Fearless. But 
although Rouen was ultimately to become a town of 
France, the time was not yet, and for the present her 
destiny was averted by an outsider — Harold, King 
of Denmark, curiously surnamed Blue-tooth. He 
determined to resist the encroachments of Louis, and 
finally made him prisoner in the city where he had 
hoped to establish another capital. 

The Norman dukes only deteriorated as rulers 
when they joined to their domain the crown of 
England, won by the hardiest and strongest of them 
all. We remember the passionate, self-willed 
Robert, son of the Conqueror, and John, called 
Lackland, that disgrace to the English throne, the 
worst and likewise the last Norman duke, for the 
French king, Philippe Auguste, confiscated Nor- 
mandy, together with other English possessions, and 
joined it to the crown of France, taking possession 
of Rouen after a siege in 1204. From this point 

[66] 



ROUEN 

the history of Rouen becomes the history of a 
French and not of a Norman town. As a reward 
for its submission, Philippe Auguste presented the 
town with a castle, of which one tower (the Tour 
Jeanne d'Arc) alone remains standing. Two cen- 
turies later, Rouen was in danger from the English. 
Henry V., during his brilliant campaign in northern 
France, was not likely to leave to itself such an im- 
portant place. In 1419 he set up his cannon outside 
the walls, and proceeded to blockade the town, which 
opened its gates to him after a six months' siege. 
Here he also built a castle, which, in the hopefulness 
born of youth and victory, he intended to use as a 
royal residence when all France should be at rest 
under his firm rule. But before the conquest was 
completed, before he had time to think about any 
residence other than his camp, came that last fatal 
sickness at Vincennes, and the castle, which seemed, 
like all his victories, so sure and so lasting, has been 
swept off the face of the earth. The years after 
Henry's death, however, were significant ones for 
Rouen, now in English hands, and in 1431 we come 
to the great point in its history, the trial and burning 
of Joan of Arc in the market-place. 

Captured near Compiegne, Joan had been sent to 
Rouen by the bishop of Beauvais. This was in 
March. The girl was examined fifteen or sixteen 

[67] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

times, a wearying repetition of question and 
answer, often going round and round in a circle 
and never advancing any further. Joan's replies 
were simple but firm. She persisted in her divine 
mission, and when asked whether she was in a state 
of grace or of sin replied, " If I am not in a state 
of grace, I hope God will make me so. How can 
I be in much sin while the saints will visit me? " In 
May matters were delayed by her illness, which was 
so serious that it seemed for a time as though her 
enemies were to be defeated by death; but on her 
recovery learned doctors were sent to her in prison 
to persuade her of her wrong attitude of mind. Later 
came a warning from Cauchon, the bishop of Beau- 
vais, to the effect that he was about to have her 
brought forth and made the object of a public ser- 
mon, after which, if she would recant, her safety 
would be assured. Worn out with her trials, the 
poor girl declared her submission and signed a re- 
cantation, for she saw that the end could not but 
come soon. A penance of perpetual imprisonment 
was then imposed upon her, and she submitted 
passively to the injunctions laid upon her; but at her 
final abjuration she seemed to be overcome by a 
sudden access of penitence towards the saints, and 
resumed her old attitude of determination, declaring 
that all she had said in submission was said in fear 

[68] 






Pi 
> 



X 
h 




O 

D 

o 



ROUEN 

of being burned at the stake, of which she had a 
very natural horror. After this her fate was sealed. 
Cauchon handed her over to the secular arm, and a 
few hours later she was led to the stake in the old 
market-place. It is needless to dwell upon this last 
scene, because it is one of the stock dramatic occur- 
rences in our history books, which nearly always 
represent Joan of Arc as suffering trial, torment and 
death, for the sake of her country with almost un- 
natural fortitude; but, on the other hand, the more 
one reads about her, the more clear it becomes that 
the heroism of the Maid of Orleans, though none the 
less heroic, was a heroism of the simplest order, born 
of a pure heart, a steady, straightforward faith in her 
mission, and only wavering at the last from a very 
human and girlish horror of so infamous and dread- 
ful a death. And as for her judges, needlessly cruel 
though they were, yet, as one writer points out, they 
were almost bound to condemn their prisoner. To 
try her for sorcery and to burn her as a witch seems 
of course to our modern eyes not merely horrible, but 
absurd. Cauchon and his followers, however, did 
not live in an enlightened age; in their day the 
*' Black Art " was a thing to be dreaded above all 
others, and death seemed a light thing in comparison 
with the putting down the power of the Evil One. 
Others besides Joan of Arc, for generations before 

[71] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

and generations after, had died at the stake for re- 
puted practice of magic; and in the case of the Maid, 
" to acquit her would have been to accept her celestial 
mission and place her, with some modern French 
historians, by the side, nay, in the place, of the 
Messiah." The trial and burning of Joan cannot be 
looked upon by the light of a modern world; they 
are of their time, and that time was, above all things, 
a superstitious one. And only after her death did 
France realise what the Domremy peasant girl had 
done for her country. The French monarchy, as 
Louis XL established it, is perhaps the best monu- 
ment to her memory. After, and as some say because 
of, Joan's death English prestige in Rouen began 
steadily to decline. Two years afterwards, in 1433, 
came the death of John, Duke of Bedford, brother of 
Henry V., perhaps the only man left with anything 
of Henry's strength and singleness of purpose. 
Rouen held out against two attempts at recapture on 
the part of Charles VII., but in 1449 Somerset was 
forced to capitulate to a strong expedition, and the 
English left the town for ever. 

By the middle of the next century we find 
Rouen in the thick of religious troubles. In 1562 
it was for six months in Huguenot hands, six 
months of warfare, oppression and persecution of all 
Romanists within the walls, with worse to follow; 

[72] 



ROUEN 

for when the Royalists recaptured the town they re- 
paid the Huguenots in their own coin, and revenged 
the Catholic massacres with a terrible revenge. 
After this the Army of the League held Rouen until, 
in 1596, Henry IV. of France effected an entrance 
into the town. 

Nowadays the first view of Rouen is a smoky, 
dreary little station, surrounded by cockers and 
porters in linen blouses; but Arthur Young, an 
agriculturist of the eighteenth century, visited the 
old city during his travels, before the days of the 
" iron way," and he was more fortunate in what he 
saw from his diligence: " The first view of Rouen is 
sudden and striking; but the road doubling, in order 
to turn more gently down the hill, presents from an 
elbow the finest view of a town I have ever seen ; the 
whole city, with all its churches and convents, and 
its cathedral proudly rising in the midst, fills the 
vale. The river presents one reach crossed by the 
bridge, and then, dividing into two fine channels, 
forms a large island covered with wood; the rest of 
the vale, full of verdure and cultivation, of gardens 
and habitations, finish the scene, in perfect unison 
with the great city that forms the capital feature." 
To get this view to-day one must climb the long, 
dusty hill to the convent of Bon Secours, or rather, 
half-way only, since the city, river and meadows, 

[73] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

show their beauties just as well from a lower point, 
and the modern convent and church upon the hill- 
top are not worth a further climb. 

From the main street of the town the Cathedral is 
reached by the Rue de la Grosse Horloge, which 
leads underneath the archway of the belfry. The 
Tour St. Romain rises at the end of the street like a 
tall white guide, and here, suddenly, we find our- 
selves face to face with the west fagade of Notre 
Dame. The remark made by an American traveller, 
that he found Rome very much out of repair, is ap- 
propriate to many of the French cathedrals. Sched- 
uled as historic monuments, they receive annually a 
dole from the Government towards maintenance and 
restoration, but so miserable is this contribution, and 
so inadequate to the possibility of early completion 
of the work, that a generation may pass away before 
the scaffolding is finally removed. The west portal 
of Rouen is half covered by a forest of timbering. 
Rheims suffers even more, and the same may be said 
for Notre Dame at Evreux, St. Urbain at Troyes, 
and many other cathedrals. Such glimpses, however, 
as we get of the west front of Rouen show us its 
glory. Ruskin writing of it says : " It is the most 
exquisite piece of pure Flamboyant work existing. 
There is not one cusp, one finial, that is useless, not 
a stroke of the chisel is in vain ; the grace and luxuri- 

[74] 



ROUEN 

ance of it all are visible — sensible, rather, even to 
the uninquiring eye; and all its minuteness does not 
diminish the majesty, while it increases the mystery 
of the noble and unbroken vault." 

Of the origin of this Flamboyant style a dis- 
tinguished French writer, M. Enlart, in a paper 
lately read before the Archaeological Institute of 
Great Britain, has asserted that it is to be found not 
in France, but in England ; and specialising the west 
front of Rouen, he further states that, in the ar- 
rangement of its large bay enclosing the rose window 
and flanked by tiers of statues, it recalls absolutely 
the fagades, earlier in date, of the cathedrals of 
Wells, Salisbury and Lichfield. 

With one or two exceptions, viz., St. Urbain at 
Troyes and a chapel in Amiens Cathedral, the 
Flamboyant style did not appear in France until the 
last quarter of the fourteenth century, and when it 
had once taken root, it maintained its integrity until 
the Renaissance, having the same characteristics from 
one end of the country to the other. It was not the 
evolution of any previous French style, but it derived 
its origin, as above stated, from a style which existed 
in England a century before. Roughly speaking, the 
features which distinguish the Flamboyant are, first, 
the ogee arch which is typical of the style, then 
special systems of vaulting, and flowing tracery of 

[75] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

windows, forms of arches, " anse de panier," &c., 
arch mouldings dying into piers without impost 
or capital, and generally a love of vegetal and un- 
dulating decoration. This " decorative caprice " 
reigned in France in the fifteenth century at a 
time when the Perpendicular style became universal 
in England and had completely driven out the 
ogee arch. 

The occupation of the greater part of France by 
the English in the Hundred Years' War would 
naturally result in an English influence being 
noticeable in its buildings, the contact of nations 
producing an exchange of art as of commerce. 
The Flamboyant may therefore be said to be the 
by-product of the Hundred Years' War. 

There is documentary evidence that both at Rouen 
and at Evreux the foreign occupation did not inter- 
fere with the work going on at the cathedrals ; indeed, 
at Rouen, two canons of York were received with 
the greatest courtesy by the chapter, and contribu- 
tions were made by the English towards the com- 
pletion of the Cathedral. The domination of the 
English was no hindrance to the progress of art in 
France, and as soon as the latter had freed itself and 
realised its national unity, its architects applied 
themselves heart and soul to the development of this 
style which was " borrowed from the enemy." 

[76] 



ROUEN 

A long list can be made of buildings where the 
ogee arch and other typical features obtained in 
England, from the end of the thirteenth to the 
latter part of the fourteenth century, during which 
time no parallels existed in France. One of the 
most ancient examples is Queen Eleanor's Cross at 
Northampton (i 291- 1294), where Flamboyant fea- 
tures show themselves. 

The tomb of William de la Merche at Wells 
(1302), A3^mer de Valence at Westminster (1323), 
and many other early fourteenth-century examples, 
furnished by almost every cathedral, testify to the 
prevalence of the passion for the ogee motive of 
decoration. These are given in detail by M. Enlart 
as irrefragable proofs of the English origin of the 
Flamboyant style. 

The interior of the Cathedral of Rouen is con- 
sidered by Mr. Bond to be curiously Romanesque in 
plan. Its nave bays are four-storied, an upper and 
lower pier arch with small triforium and clerestory. 
The upper pier arch might also be regarded as a 
triforium, for a passage-way runs along the sill of 
the arch and is continued behind the main piers on 
an elegant group of shafted corbels. These were 
originally intended to support a vault of a lower 
aisle. The east end is more dignified and has simpler 
factors, clerestory, triforium and pier arch. The 

[77] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

glass is magnificent, dating from the thirteenth 
century. 

South of the Cathedral a narrow street leads 
eventually to the river by way of, the halles, the 
Place Haute-Vieille-Tour and its sister of the 
Basse-Vieille-Tour. The first square is a large 
open place, fenced round with solid stone buildings, 
and having on its south side the Chapelle de la 
Fierte Saint-Romain. With this monument, on 
which a flight of steps leads up to a Renaissance 
chapel of six stages, is connected a curious privi- 
lege and legend, both of which have of course 
been recorded before, but which are interesting 
enough to bear repetition. The charter for this 
privilege was accorded to the chapter of Rouen 
Cathedral by King Dagobert — he who founded the 
Abbey of Saint Denis. Each year, on Ascension 
Day, the archbishop was empowered to release a 
man condemned to death; and therefore every As- 
cension Day the good folk of Rouen flocked into 
the streets to watch the procession of the Fierte 
Saint-Romain. First came the solemn visit of the 
arm of the Church to the arm of the Law, with the 
annual formal proclamation of the privilege. Then 
every prison in the city must be searched, and every 
prisoner put on oath and examined as to the cause 
of his imprisonment. Finally the election of the 

[78] 










RUE DE L' HORLAGE, ROUEN 



ROUEN 

favoured prisoner was put to the vote by the chapter, 
his name sent to the Palais de Justice, and the paper 
duly signed and sealed, after which the " messe du 
prisonnier" was celebrated in the Salle des Pas- 
Perdus; and finally, the prisoner himself was called 
before his lords, secular and spiritual, and formally 
examined; he then confessed to the chaplain of Saint- 
Romain, his fetters were removed, and he followed 
the archbishop to the Place Haute-Vieille-Tour, 
where, in the Chapelle de la Fierte, a solemn service 
made him once more a free man. A solemn and 
magnificent procession then bore him, crowned with 
flowers, to the great thanksgiving Mass, after which 
he was free to go whither he would. No less curious 
is the legend connected with the ceremony. It is 
said that while Romain was bishop of Rouen a ter- 
rible dragon laid waste all the land and devoured the 
inhabitants. 

No one dared to approach this monster, who was 
known as the Gargoyle, until Saint Romain, armed 
only with his sanctity, set out to subdue it, ac- 
companied by a condemned criminal — the proto- 
type of those who were released on Holy Thursday — 
when the Gargoyle at once submitted and, with the 
episcopal stole round its neck, was led by the prisoner 
to the water's edge. The sequel does not reflect much 
credit upon the bishop — at least, it seems rather of 

[8i] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

the nature of meanness to conjure the beast into good 
nature and then to push it, all unawares, into the 
river to drown. At the head of the Portail de la 
Calende, the north porch of the Cathedral, stands the 
figure of Saint Romain, and under his feet, with the 
stole round its neck, is the Gargoyle, craning its head 
round to look into the face of the bishop with the 
expression of a very hideous but very faithful dog — 
a most disarming expression if it be meant to repre- 
sent that worn by the Gargoyle before it was sent to 
its death! In memory of this occurrence, the 
standard of the dragon was borne in the processions 
at the privilege — banners similar to those of the 
dragons at Bayeux and Salisbury. The legend, how- 
ever, appears to be of later date than the festival, 
which is mentioned certainly as early as the twelfth 
century, and continued to delight the Rouennais as 
late as 1790. 

The Abbey Church of St. Ouen is placed at the 
head of the collegiate churches of France so far as 
its beauty and perfection of architecture is concerned. 
In its proportion of nave, transepts and choir it is 
considered to outshine Cologne, its great rival and 
contemporary. The vast area of clerestory and 
glazed triforium recalls the interior arrangement of 
Amiens. The triforium passage is worked between 
the lower muUions of the windows, which are dupli- 

[82] 



ROUEN 

cated; but, as is pointed out by Mr. Bond, care was 
taken that the inner and the outer tracery of the win- 
dows should be different in pattern. Freeman says: 
" St. Ouen goes further to unite the two forms of ex- 
cellence " — external outline and internal height — 
" than any other church, French or English," and 
states that " St. Ouen is the loftiest church in the 
world that has a real central tower." 

This central lantern is, according to Ferguson, a 
very noble feature and appropriate to its position; 
unhappily it does not enjoy the admiration of all 
writers: Ruskin condemns the false buttresses of the 
tower, which he describes as merely a hollow crown, 
and declares that it needs no more buttressing than 
does a basket. 

The third church of Rouen is that of St. Maclou. 
Its most noticeable feature is the west end, which 
terminates in a very beautiful porch of pentagonal 
form, and might be taken as another example of 
the rich Flamboyant ornament seen in the western 
fa9ade of the Cathedral. The church itself is a 
complete specimen of its period, and dates from the 
latter half of the fifteenth century. 

On the north side of the church, in the Rue Mar- 
tainville, is the Aitre de St. Maclou, an old parish 
cemetery of the fifteenth century. There is a small 
quadrangle, an old disused stone well with an iron 

[83] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

crucifix in the centre, and round all runs a cloister 
with two low stories, timbered in black and white, 
with the famous " Danse Macabre " carved on the 
lower beams. It is now used as a school for the poor 
children of Rouen, and on working days is full of 
life — the life of a growing generation going on side 
by side with the relics of a dead and half-forgotten 
past, for the quaint seriousness of an old fifteenth- 
century builder has traced upon the lintel a constant 
reminder of death and the grave — skulls, bones, 
spades, and here and there a grim skeleton Death 
bearing away a human figure in his arms. Many of 
the most beautiful figures are headless, not from the 
ravages of a symbolic Death, but from those of a very 
real and equally unsparing hand — the hand of the 
Revolution. 

During the Franco-Prussian War Rouen had 
unhappily to record its own chapter of reverses, 
when the French determined to dislodge Manteuffel. 
Faidherbe's army, together with the army of the 
Havre and General Roy's army of the South, had 
planned out an admirable scheme, which, however, 
was lacking in one essential, actual execution. Man- 
teuffel was to be routed and driven out of Rouen. 
The Prussians were equally confident of success, and 
it is said that Manteuffel ordered his train to take 
him to Amiens to be ready next day at twelve o'clock, 

[84] 




v~\.^.-'^. *f%^?T?- «2S!^ 




RUE ST. ROMAIN, ROUEN 



ROUEN 

by which time he felt sure that he would have dis- 
posed of the enemy. 

" The battle began before daylight, the pursuit 
lasted until after dark and was resumed on the fol- 
lowing morning; but the victory was virtually gained 
when the first blow was struck, or, rather, the first 
shot fired. Here and there, on the road along which 
they were driven, or on the wooded heights by which 
the road is in many places commanded, they made a 
desperate resistance, but it was throughout a question, 
in regard to the French, of the rate of retreat, never 
a question of retreat and advance." 



[87] 



EVREUX AND LISIEUX 

^■»^E left Rouen by a " quick " train, that is, 
W^ I ^ one which occupied itself in stopping at 
\B^r every wayside station that caught its 
fancy. However, this mattered little, as 
the road to Evreux runs through the most enchanting 
country, and we had plenty of time to admire it. 
Wonderful woods stretch over the slope of the hills 
and widen out into valleys scattered with old tim- 
bered farm-houses, and here and there a chateau, 
seen amongst the trees of its propriete; little poplar- 
shaded rivers run through the fields, decked in holi- 
day garlands of loosestrife and meadowsweet and un- 
molested by any eager pecheur, whether boy with 
string and bent pin, or more " compleat angler " with 
rod and line. The Seine, divested of barge and steam 
tug, greets one by glimpses now and then; and after 
leaving the tunnel before Elboeuf, it bursts suddenly 
into view — a wide sweep of river, with the busy little 
town by its side. Then the valley closes in all at once, 

[88] 



EVREUX AND LISIEUX 

and we run under the shadow of chalk cliffs with 
steep scarped faces and deep caverns, into whose 
blackness we may almost peer from the carriage win- 
dow. Lastly comes a run up on to high ground 
again; and there below, shut in by hills, with three 
towers rising from its low roofs, is Evreux. The 
railway takes a great curve from one side of the town 
to the other before running into the station, so that 
the place passes in review before one; and it is an 
impressive review, seen as we first saw it, in the light 
of a summer sundown, a purple haze, " mystic, won- 
derful," hanging like a veil over the little town. 

Besides the Cathedral and the bishop's palace, 
Evreux possesses little that strikes one as being either 
very old or very new; a cheerful, clean mediocrity 
prevails all through the town, which, nevertheless, 
dates back to very early times. Remains of a Roman 
settlement have been discovered some little distance 
away, at Vieil Evreux, then known as Mediolanum 
Aulercolum, and afterwards as Eburovices, whence 
is derived the modern name of Evreux. A bishopric 
was founded at Evreux by St. Taurin, during the 
great movement towards Christianity in the fourth 
century; later, Clovis destroyed the Roman encamp- 
ment and founded a town of his own, which in its turn 
was burnt and pillaged by the Northmen in the ninth 
century. After this it probably shared the bounty 

[89] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

of its former scourge, Duke Rolf, and became part 
of the Norman duchy and a Naboth's vineyard to 
Count Thibaut of Chartres, who did actually take 
possession of it in 962, though Richard the Fearless 
must have reclaimed the town, as he presented the 
" Comte d'Evreux," which was to pass later into the 
family of Montfort I'Amaury, to one of his younger 
sons. Henry I. set fire to Evreux for some mysterious 
reason, but with the full consent of the bishop, who 
must have had peculiar ideas on the subject of his 
pastoral duties; and in the reign of Coeur-de-Lion 
John Lackland gave it up to the French Crown, and 
afterwards, filled with remorse, or more probably 
with alarm, at the news that his brother was return- 
ing from Palestine and might demand what had 
become of Evreux, ordered a general massacre of the 
French garrison quartered there and ran away him- 
self, leaving his wretched English subjects to bear 
the brunt of the French king's wrath when the story 
should come to his knowledge. 

After several vicissitudes of this kind, Evreux 
was in 1404 finally joined to the Crown of France, 
though it still seems to have been tossed about in the 
most confusing way, and we hear of it as belonging 
now to France, now to Navarre, then sold to the 
Darnley Stuarts and back again to France; and so on 
until Napoleon, having divorced Josephine, pre- 

[90] 





X 

> 



EVREUX AND LISIEUX 

sented her out of his imperial bounty with a part of 
the Comte d'Evreux as a compensation for her trials. 
The modern town, however, has not at all the air of 
having been the plaything of kings and states. The 
only noticeable traces of its ancient warfare are the 
machicolated walls of the bishop's palace, and the 
moat below, running between the palace and the 
Boulevard Chambaudin. The moat is now filled up 
by a kitchen-garden — a striking example of how 
peace has succeeded war in Evreux — but it is easy to 
imagine how it must have looked in the old days; 
the dark, still water, the steep walls rising up to their 
turrets, the treacherous machicolations, apparently 
ornamental but in reality only too useful, and above 
it all the grey towers of Notre Dame. 

The interior of the Cathedral extends in date 
from the Romanesque to the Renaissance period. 
The nave bays offer examples of what is known as 
" skeleton construction " ; they consist of a Roman- 
esque pier arch (said to be the remaining work of 
Lanfranc) surmounted by a large clerestory and 
small glazed triforium; the clerestory wall, as Mr. 
Bond points out, is so shallow that it " ceases to exist 
qua wall." It is in some way analogous to the choir 
of Gloucester in its " attenuated construction." The 
lights are filled in with glass, apparently of the late 
fifteenth century. As Whewell says, the transepts 

[93] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

and part of the choir are most remarkable and most 
ancient examples of the Flamboyant style. The 
choir, burnt down in 1346, was restored in the second 
half of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries; 
the transept was finished about 1450. The English 
took possession of the town in 141 8, but this did not in 
any way hinder the work from being carried on. In 
1422 Tchan le Boy was made maitre de I'ceuvre, and 
to him is attributed the Lantern Tower, springing 
from a beautiful vaulted base. The vitrail of the 
Saintes Maries and its mouldings, probably designed 
by Le Boy, follows the English type. 

Evreux is, according to Whewell, " a mixture of 
Flamboyant and Renaissance. The Flamboyant dies 
down gradually into Italian, especially in the series 
of wooden screens to the chapels round the choir, 
where every sort of mixture is noticeable." In some 
of the glass and on the outside panels of the west 
doors the artists have attempted to show their knowl- 
edge of the newly-discovered science of perspective, 
but they pay little regard to the vanishing point. On 
the north side, the windows of the aisle, with high 
pediments cutting the balustrades, are very beautiful 
examples of the prevailing style. The western tow- 
ers " are to be considered as Gothic conceptions 
expressed in classical phrases." 

In the far west of the town, at the end of the Rue 

[94] 



EVREUX AND LISIEUX 

Josephine, lies Saint Taurin, the second church of 
Evreux, in its quiet little square, screened by magnif- 
icent elm-trees, a square and solid-looking building, 
with a good deal of work that is very interesting and 
undoubtedly ancient. Originally the church formed 
part of a Benedictine Abbey founded in 1026; an 
ancient crypt remains, built, as purports to be the 
case with so many churches, round the tomb of the 
patron. Saint Taurin, who in the fourth century 
brought Christianity into the town, and whose story 
may be read in the fifteenth-century glass of the choir. 
His relics are preserved in a wonderful carved 
casket of the thirteenth century, which may be seen 
by the curious in the church treasury. In three bays 
of the south nave the vaulting ends in some curious 
stone carving in the form of grotesque heads, which 
belong to the sixteenth century. 

" Once a cathedral, always a cathedral " was the 
theory which led us to Lisieux en route for Bayeux. 
It seemed almost as absurd that the great church of 
St. Pierre should not be counted a cathedral as that 
St. Etienne and the other churches of Caen should 
be churches and nothing more. In this respect, in- 
deed, Lisieux takes precedence of Caen, for until the 
days of the Empire she had a bishopstool of her own, 
while Caen never actually possessed the dignity of 
an episcopal see. 

[95] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Lisieux is one stage further on the high road be- 
tween French Normandy and Norman Normandy, 
and is some way over the Norman border; at Rouen, 
at Evreux even, we were in France, but here all 
around us, as at Bayeux, are signs and tokens of a 
land more closely akin to our own, and we feel that 
we have at last reached Normandy proper. Lisieux, 
both for its Cathedral and for itself, is full of interest. 
The general impression is that of a bright little place 
with a great deal of life — the life of shop and mar- 
ket — to be seen on all sides, but none of the modern 
commercial spirit, such as dominates a place like 
Rouen. There is a very mediaeval air about Lisieux, 
and the old houses, of which there are plenty, are to 
be found not in out-of-the-way alleys, but in the chief 
streets. The Grande Rue has one magnificent speci- 
men, now a boot-maker's shop, opposite the Rue du 
Paradis; down at the bottom of the hill, in the Rue 
de Caen, is a house where Charlottle Corday spent 
the night on the way to Paris to fulfil her terrible 
mission, and the Rue aux Fevres, where one seems to 
have walked straight into the Middle Ages, con- 
tains the " Manoir de Frangois I%" a beautiful six- 
teenth-century house, from whose name one would at 
least suppose that Francois once spent a night there, 
whereas he probably never went near the place, and 
its chief claim to the title lies in the abundance of 

[96] 



r 




^mm-''^ 




THE TOWER OF EVREUX 



EVREUX AND LISIEUX 

carved salamanders on the splendid house-front, and 
even these are mixed up with apes and other 
grotesque creatures. 

The Church of St. Jacques stands almost at the 
top of the hill, between the Rue St. Jacques and 
the Marche au Beurre, where most of the straggling 
streets converge. It was built in the last years of the 
fifteenth century, and is a fairly complete specimen 
of the French style of that period, standing upon a 
long, wide flight of steps, with a balustrade running 
completely round the building. The floor inside fol- 
lows the slope of the hill, and slants upwards from 
west to east. 

The church contains some half-eflfaced frescoes on 
the nave pillars, and a very curious old painting on 
wood, representing the miraculous translation of St. 
Ursin's relics to Lisieux in 1055. This picture hangs 
in a chapel in the south aisle, dedicated to St. Antony 
of Padua, not in St. Ursin's own chapel, which is on 
the other side of the nave. 

Lisieux looks like a town with a history, and, like 
most French towns, goes back to Roman times, when 
it was known as Noviomagus or as Lexovii, from the 
Gallic tribe which had settled there. Rolf obtained 
it as part of his Norman duchy; Geoffrey Plantag- 
enet and Stephen of Blois fought over it and be- 
tween them reduced the town to a terrible state of 

[99] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

famine, for which Henry II. of England tried to 
make amends by causing his own marriage with 
Eleanor of Poitou to take place in the Cathedral. 
Thomas a Becket took refuge at Lisieux on one occa- 
sion and left behind him some vestments, which are 
proudly displayed in the chapel of the Hospice, 

During the Hundred Years' War and the reli- 
gious quarrels two centuries later, Lisieux shared 
the fate of other towns as regards sieges and con- 
flagrations ; but after this we hear little of its history, 
and may assume that it emerged from its trials much 
as we see it now — busy and peaceful once more, with 
leisure to turn again to the old-world town routine 
which makes the Lisieux of to-day. 

The interior of St. Pierre, according to Whewell, 
" bears a great resemblance to Early English work, 
although the French square abacus is still to be found 
here. The round abacus is noticeable in the arcades 
under the windows of the choir, giving quite an 
English look to this portion of the church." There 
is at the west end a large interior porch, which is re- 
ferred to by most writers on architecture. The two 
towers vary in their openings, one having lancet 
lights and the other small round-headed windows. 
The nave is large, consisting of eight bays, and built, 
it is said, about ii 60. The tympana of the choir 
triforium arches are filled with plate tracery, quatre- 

[100] 






X 

D 



tq 

a 
u 



C/5 



EVREUX AND LISIEUX 

foil and cusped. The most beautiful interior eleva- 
tion, however, is that of the north wall of the transept. 
Here the three large upper lights remind one of the 
well-known " Five Sisters " at York. The lower 
double-light window is deeply recessed, with elegant 
clusters of engaged shafts supporting the graceful 
mouldings round the opening. The transept also 
possesses an eastern aisle, which is said to be a rarity 
in France. 

The church itself is unfortunately situated in a 
corner of the Place, and a large building which 
abuts on its north-west tower detracts considerably 
from its beauty and importance. The south 
transept door opens into the Rue du Paradis — a 
name which one is glad to see preserved in the neigh- 
bourhood of French cathedrals. It may refer to a 
garden or close which has been absorbed by sur- 
rounding buildings, or to a closed-in porch, the 
upper stories of which have been used either as 
libraries, or as lodgings for chantry-priests. 



[103] 



re 



BAYEUX 

*E read of Bayeux — before going there — as 
a place where many went but few stayed, 
because of the towns behind and before; 
memories of Caen and Lisieux, expecta- 
tions of Coutances and Saint-L6, which dimmed the 
modest light of little Bayeux. It is curious, however, 
that this should be the case, when we remember how 
important was the position it held in the history of 
mediaeval Normandy. It was the chief town of the 
country known as the Bessin, a district lying immedi- 
ately to the west of Rolf's duchy at Rouen, and the 
conquest of which was the next stage on his westward 
road. One interesting point here is that the inhab- 
itants of the Bessin, even as far back as the later days 
of the Roman Empire, were not Celts but Saxons — 
men of the same race as Rolf, who took possession 
of Bayeux in 924, and established there a Danish set- 
tlement, which, as Freeman says, was always a thorn 
in the side of the Celts, and provoked many attacks 

[104] 



BAYEUX 

from its Breton neighbours. Saxon and Dane made 
common cause against the enemies both to the east 
and to the west; and thus at Bayeux there grew up 
a strong Teutonic colony, without the Prankish ele- 
ment which, as we have seen, worked such changes 
at Rouen. The old Norse religion obtained here 
long after eastern Normandy had become Christian; 
and the Bayeux colony bore much more affinity to 
the Danish settlements in England than to that at 
Rouen, the nucleus of Normandy, which was hardly 
Norman at all, whereas, as Freeman remarks, " the 
acquisition of Bayeux gave Normandy all that 
created and preserved the genuine Norman char- 
acter." For this reason William Longsword chose 
that his son, Richard the Fearless, should be brought 
up at Bayeux rather than at Rouen — so that, living 
amongst his own people, he might in time come to be 
not only Duke of Normandy, but also Duke of the 
Normans. 

The Bessin still preserves this ancient distinction, 
and both country and inhabitants bear a great 
resemblance to those of England. Bayeux itself is 
a quiet country town, built up one low hill and 
down another — a town of long streets and grey- 
shuttered houses, possessing three^ principal interests 
— the Cathedral, the Seminary Chapel and the 
Tapestry. It is also the birthplace of Alain 

[ 105 ] ^ 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Chartler, minstrel and court-poet to Charles VII., 
and author of that curious document, the " Curiale," 
whose best praise lies in the fact that it was one of 
the earliest books selected for publication by Caxton. 
It is a brilliant and vivid picture of the court life 
of the time; and the story says of Maitre Alain 
that he intended it as an answer to a letter from his 
brother Jean, enquiring whether he, too, could not 
find fame at court. Certainly it looks as if the 
favoured brother wished to keep to himself the good 
things of life, for although he paints in brilliant 
colours, Alain does not spare the follies and vices of 
court life, and one cannot help feeling that his 
object was to put the more obscure Jean " off the 
scent." 

Little is known of the circumstances either of 
Chartier's birth or his death, though of his actual 
life several records exist. He is known to have 
been one of the most brilliant men of letters of his 
time, probably rivalled only by Charles d'Orleans, 
and — since a court minstrel is always a picturesque 
figure — he has come down to our times surrounded 
by a certain halo of romance. His many writings, 
both in prose and verse, are very little known to 
modern readers, though he had many disciples 
among the men of his own time, and his " Bre- 
viaire des Nobles " was considered such a standard 

[io6] 



BAYEUX 

for courtly manners that it was apportioned out, so 
Jean de Masles tells us, into daily passages for the 
youth of the court — that court of which Chartier 
knew every turn, every corner, every glittering 
folly and every dark intrigue — to learn by heart. 
A modern statue in his native town at the end of 
the Rue General de Dais shows him in furred cap 
and flowing robe, a pen in one hand, and in the 
other a sheaf of papers from which he is appar- 
ently declaiming some gay rondel or pathetic 
ballad. 

His house in the Rue des Bouchers is also shown, 
with an inscription to the effect that he was born 
there with his two brothers, Jean and Guillaume; 
but it has now become a very small and dingy shop, 
and one goes away with a feeling that a link with 
the past has been broken. But although Chartier's 
house would scarcely be singled out as an ancient 
landmark, one or two there are in the quiet grey 
line of the Bayeux streets that seem to belong to a 
better time, a time when watchmen walked the 
streets by night and armed men clattered down 
them by day: and among these stands out the 
really beautiful gabled specimen at the corner of 
the Rue St. Martin. Here cross-timbers, black 
and white, tall gables and lattice windows call for 
our admiration on our road to the Cathedral; and 

[107] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

nearer the great church itself is the sixteenth- 
century Maison du Gouverneur, and another 
" Maison d'Adam." It is curious how often street 
and house names in France reverted in this way to 
our common origin. In countless places do we find 
Maisons d'Adam (Eve sometimes has a share in the 
patronage of the house), with their figures of 
Adam, Eve and the Serpent; sometimes, as at 
Rouen, a whole street bears the name of the Pere 
Adam. It would be interesting to know if this is 
a cropping up of the Revolutionary egalite — a 
wooden form of 

" When Adam delved and Eve span, 
Who was then the gentleman ? " 

If SO, the idea is certainly before its time, since many 
of these houses and streets were built, and presum- 
ably named, when the Revolution was as yet in its 
cradle. 

The Lanterne des Morts, a quaint structure with 
a quaint title, raises a perforated cone on the south- 
west of the Cathedral. This medieval lamp-post 
had it name from the fact that it was lighted 
whenever a funeral procession passed through the 
town; and it must certainly have added to the im- 
pressiveness of the scene, especially when, as was 
often the case in old days, the burial took place in 

[io8] 



BAYEUX 

the dead of night, and this red glowing beacon 
towered above the low roofs like a great funeral 
torch as the chanting of the monks broke the still- 
ness, and the sombre figures with their burden moved 
into the church. 

Returning to the three principal attractions of 
Bayeux noticed above, the Cathedral — the only 
church of importance — falls naturally into the first 
place. Entering by one of the five beautiful 
gabled doorways, one stands on a platform above 
the level of the nave floor. The standpoint being 
thus raised, the length of the church is apparently 
enhanced. There is a church in Rome and another 
at Modena where this coup d'ceil is effected by the 
street level being some twenty or thirty steps above 
the nave. 

The bays of the nave, especially in their lower 
compartments, are very remarkable. Above the 
twelfth-century round-headed pier arches, and 
reaching to the very small triforium balustrade, the 
whole wall face is decorated with beautiful diaper 
carving. This surface decoration is to be found in 
Westminster Abbey, |)ut n'ot in the same varied rich- 
ness as on the walls and spandrils at Bayeux. On one 
of the bays the old corbels which carried the organ 
in the thirteenth century still remain. The clerestory 
windows are beautiful in proportion and constructed 

[ 109] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

in double planes. The spandrils and tracery of the 
choir arches show examples of early plate tracery. 

In the treasury one of the most interesting pieces 
of furniture is a large armoire containing church 
vestments, and another example of early joinery is 
to be found in the fine door in the south aisle. Here 
huge planks, some eighteen feet in length, are fast- 
ened together by iron bands and hinges, without 
framework of any kind. The two western towers, 
together with the crypt, are said to be the only parts 
remaining of the old church of Odo, brother of the 
Conqueror. 

We made two unsuccessful attempts to obtain 
entrance to the Seminary Chapel; but as it is said 
to be a very beautiful specimen of early Gothic, 
the short description given by Whewell may 
perhaps act as an incentive to other visitors, and 
spur them on to greater importunity than we used. 
He considers it to be " the most elegant and com- 
plete example of the Early English style. The 
details resemble those of the Temple Church in 
London, in the shafts, capitals, vaulting, &c. The 
arrangement of the east end is remarkable, uniting 
as it does in a considerable degree the effect of the 
polygonal apse and of the east windows, having 
diverging vaulting but with eastern lights." 

At the present day it is upon the Tapestry that 

[no] 




H 




^ 



A STREET CORNER, BAYEUX 



BAYEUX 

Bayeux bases its chief claim to notoriety, and the 
first feeling is one of surprise if not of disappoint- 
ment on finding that it can hardly be reckoned as 
tapestry at all. This impression, however, soon dis- 
appears when we come to consider the interest and 
importance of the work, not merely as a local but also 
as an historic monument. Many and fierce have been 
the controversies as to its origin — all the more so 
from the fact that it was not brought to light until 
(speaking relatively) within recent times, so that 
little can be gained from history or tradition, or, 
indeed, from anything beyond the internal evidence. 
The form of the Tapestry is well known to all visitors 
of Bayeux (and without going so far afield, a very 
accurate copy may be seen at the South Kensington 
Museum) — a long, narrow piece of linen, embroid- 
ered in crewel work of five different colours, setting 
forth the conquest of England by Duke William. In 
1724 M. Lancelot found a copy of some of the scenes 
among the papers of the Intendant of Normandy, 
and concluding after a close investigation that every- 
thing pointed to the work being contemporary with 
the events depicted, communicated his discovery to 
the Academic Frangaise. Montf aucon carried on the 
investigation, and finally discovered the original of 
Lancelot's copy in a length of tapestry which was 
hung round the Cathedral at Bayeux on great festi- 

[113] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

vals. The early authorities seem to have entertained 
no doubt of its being contemporary, but later ac- 
counts set forth theories so widely different from one 
another, and in some cases so flatly contradictory, 
that it is impossible to enter into them within a very 
limited space. Following the authority of Freeman, 
who treats the subject in a very complete manner in 
his "History of the Norman Conquest" (vol. iii. 
Appendix, note A), we may assume that the 
" Toilette du Due Guillaume," as it is called in an 
ecclesiastical inventory at Bayeux of the fifteenth 
century, is contemporary with the history of the Con- 
queror, but is more likely to have been connected 
with Odo than with Queen Matilda. This theory is 
supported by the prominence given in the various 
scenes to " Turold, Vital, and Wadard," who are 
mentioned in Domesday Book as vassals of the bishop, 
but are in themselves quite unimportant, which 
would suggest that the original interest of the 
Tapestry was intended to be a purely local one, for 
the Bishop of Bayeux alone. Freeman thinks it pos- 
sible that the work may have been done in England. 
When Napoleon became First Consul he sent for the 
tapestry from Bayeux, and displayed it in the Louvre 
as an incentive to Frenchmen to conquer England as 
Duke William had conquered it some seven centuries 
before. After this it returned to Bayeux, and was 

["4] 



BAYEUX 

formerly shown to the curious visitor rolled on a 
windlass; but later days have treated it more rever- 
ently, and it is now preserved under glass in a condi- 
tion of colour and texture which, considering its age 
and its adventures, it little short of marvellous. 

Side by side with that of the Conqueror, the 
other memory which Bayeux calls up is undoubtedly 
that of the greatest bishop the little city ever knew, 
who governed it during half a century of Norman- 
dy's most stirring history. Odo's life-story stands 
out among those of the men of his time, indeed, much 
as does the life-story of his half-brother, Duke 
William. In an age when bishops wielded sword as 
well as mace, he outstripped his contemporaries not 
only in ecclesiastical power, but in the highest of 
temporal ambitions. Like Wolsey, he aimed at being 
Pope above all his other goals. In the meantime 
Odo despised no stepping-stones to power. He be- 
came Bishop of Bayeux in 1048 ; fought with William 
at Senlac, " in full armour by the side of his brother 
and sovereign, as eager and ready as William him- 
self to plunge in wherever in the fight danger should 
press most nearly," and in the following year, when 
fear of foreign invasions called the new king back to 
Normandy, he was left in joint command of England 
with Fitz-Osbern, and given the title of Earl of Kent. 
Thus we see that Odo had two distinct provinces — a 

[IIS] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

secular one in England, a spiritual one in Normandy 
— and his rule seems to have differed according to 
the province in which he found himself. As Earl 
of Kent, the native chroniclers declare he was harsh, 
oppressive and tyrannical; his followers were 
lawless, and were dreaded through his territory. 
The chroniclers of Bayeux, however, show him up 
as a munificent prelate, generous in giving, a patron 
of " learning and good conversation," and, above all, 
a benefactor to his see in that he rebuilt the church 
where his flock worshipped, and where the crypt and 
part of the western towers still bear witness of his 
work. William of Poitiers, the chronicler of all that 
William did, extends his panegyrics to Odo, and de- 
clares that he was appreciated and beloved both in 
Normandy and England. But this probably results. 
Freeman points out, from the immense admiration 
of William the chronicler for William the duke, 
which would probably — so partial were historians in 
those days — lead him to believe that not only was the 
Conqueror impeccable, but his lieutenants also. 

Caen follows as a natural corollary to Bayeux, and 
once one has embarked upon a journey in the Bessin 
and Calvados districts, it seems almost invidious to 
stay in one town without paying a visit to the others, 
both being so intimately bound up with the story of 
the Conqueror. 

[ii6] 



BAYEUX 

The churches of Caen have never had any pre- 
tence to episcopal dignity, and it is curious that this 
city, richer in great churches than any town in Nor- 
mandy, should never have been raised to a bishopric, 
more especially considering the number of cathedral 
towns which beside such a city as this rank as hardly 
more than large villages, and yet which, because they 
possess one church of importance, must take prece- 
dence of Caen and other bishopless cities. Apart 
from its ecclesiastical dignity, however, Caen should 
be visited because it is a town both ancient and beauti- 
ful, and in memory of the great duke, who, English 
sovereign though he was, yet seems to come before us 
much more vividly in Normandy than in England. 
It was the Conqueror who made Caen — perhaps not 
as it is to-day, but at any rate as it was in the 
Middle Ages. Caen, or Cadomum as the Normans 
found it, was a tiny parish lying on the outskirts of 
the Bessin district, burnt probably by the first Nor- 
man invaders, and likewise included in Rolfs con- 
quests, but of too little importance either to be 
harmed by the one or benefited by the other. Then 
arose the discussion about William's marriage with 
Matilda, the dispensation granted by the Pope for 
their breach of canonical law and the conditions 
under which William might keep his wife — that the 
duke and the duchess should each build an abbey 

[117] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

church and foundation within the town of Caen, that 
of William to serve for men, that of Matilda for 
women; and forthwith the little town became a 
centre of attraction, alive with workmen, visited no 
doubt from time to time by the duke and duchess 
themselves in order that they might see how the 
work was going forward. The Abbaye aux Dames 
was the first to be consecrated. Matilda wished to 
hurry on the work, probably, as one writer says, from 
feminine impatience to complete her task. The 
church finished under her auspices, however, was 
too quickly erected to be more than a fragment, 
" simply so much as was necessary for the devotions 
of the sisterhood," and its real completion belongs to 
a day later than the time of Matilda, though her 
original plan was in all probability carried out to the 
end. William, however, took his time over the 
building of his church, and watched it to the finish. 
It was consecrated, with the exception of the two 
western towers, by Lanfranc in 1077, and stands to- 
day, in its strength, simplicity and majesty, a fitting 
and lasting memorial of the man who ruled England 
and Normandy and kept them with hand of 
iron. 

" The church of William, vast in scale, bold and 
simple in its design, disdaining ornament, but never 
sinking into rudeness, is indeed a church worthy of 

[118] 



BAYEUX 

its founder. The minster of Matilda, far richer even 
in its earliest parts, smaller in size, more delicate in 
workmanship, has nothing of the simplicity and 
grandeur and sense of proportion which marks the 
work of her husband. The one is the expression in 
stone of the imperial will of the conquering duke; 
the other breathes the true spirit of his loving and 
faithful duchess." 

The foundation of the two great abbeys soon 
led to a growing population outside their walls. 
Houses were built around the Trinite on the hill- 
top and around Saint Etienne in the plain; various 
trades sprang up, we may suppose, within the town; 
and a castle — always a patent of nobility to any town 
— ^was built on the hill, where William might lodge 
during his visits to Caen. These visits became more 
and more frequent until Caen was elevated almost to 
the rank of a royal residence; and even when Duke 
William became King of England, he found nothing 
in his new kingdom so pleasant as the little city under 
the hill. He built walls all round the town ; he con- 
ceded to the inhabitants commercial privileges such 
as were enjoyed by Rouen and other large cities, to- 
gether with the right of holding fairs, though the 
fairs of Caen never attained such celebrity as did 
those at Troyes ; and finally, it was through the streets 
of Caen that his funeral train passed, bearing the 

[i'9] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Conqueror to his long rest in the church which he 
had built in the city which he had loved. 

" The death of a king in those days came near to a 
break-up of all civil society. Till a new king was 
chosen and crowned, there was no longer a power 
in the land to protect or to chastise. All bonds were 
loosed; all public authority was in abeyance; each 
man had to look to his own as best he might." Thus 
is described the state of feudal England and feudal 
Normandy after the death of the Conqueror at 
Rouen. A state of the utmost confusion prevailed; 
and apparently quite as an afterthought, masses were 
offered for the soul of him who so lately had kept all 
in so strict an order. This confusion was not the out- 
come of any personal disrespect to the dead king; it 
was simply a reaction consequent on the removal of 
the one great headstone, the one great reliance of the 
realms on both sides of the Channel. In the meantime 
the body of William was borne to Caen to await 
burial. A Norman knight of the name of Herl- 
win took upon himself the task of ordering funeral 
rites proper to the degree of such a man, since neither 
kinsfolk nor servants seemed willing to stir a finger. 
Once at Caen, however, the Conqueror's faithful fol- 
lowers received their dead master with all the honour 
and respect which they had shown to him while liv- 
ing. The procession started in full pomp towards 

[ 120] 



BAYEUX 

Saint Stephen's and was met by the Abbot Gilbert, 
his clergy, and a number of laymen. The monks fell 
into file, the solemn chant arose ; but suddenly the or- 
derly progress was arrested by an event as startling 
as any in the lifetime of the great man they were 
burying. As the crowds filled the streets, a fire broke 
out in one of the houses ; and as in the Middle Ages 
fires were easier to kindle and harder to quench than 
in later days, the flames spread along from house to 
house, till it seemed as though a sheet of fire were 
pursuing the Conqueror to his grave. Soon only the 
monks remained of the great company that had set out 
from the monastery, and they went on apparently as 
though nothing had happened, whilst the clergy, the 
lay helpers and the rest of the crowd dispersed to save 
their belongings from destruction, the dead man for- 
gotten in the very real and living present need. 
" Thus were the candles of William's churching at 
Mantes avenged by the candles of his burial at Caen." 
At Saint Stephen's were waiting a goodly company 
of bishops, Lanfranc of Canterbury, Odo of Bay- 
eux, William's brother; Gilbert of Evreux, the 
preacher; and Gilbert of Lisieux, learned in medi- 
cine; with Geoff roy de Montbray, bishop of 
Coutances; and the saintly pupil of Lanfranc, An- 
selm of Bee. The scene which followed is an interest- 
ing one. The funeral mass was sung, the body being 

[121] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

borne along the nave and chancel up to the altar; then 
Gilbert of Lisieux spoke the funeral oration, setting 
forthj as was the custom, the tale of William's battles 
and conquests, of his glory in war and his firm rule 
in peace, of his defence of the Church and his zeal 
against her enemies. " Pray, O people, that his sins 
may be forgiven before God, and if he had sinned 
against you in anything, forgive him that also your- 
selves." At the close of the oration all heads turned 
towards Ascelin, the son of Arthur, as he stood forth, 
and forbade the body to be buried in land which the 
Conqueror had wrested from his father. " I . . . 
claim the land ; I challenge it as mine before all men, 
and in the name of God I forbid that the body of 
the robber be covered with my mould, or that he be 
buried within the bounds of mine inheritance." 
Certainly here seemed some just impediment. An 
inquiry, necessarily brief because of the time and 
place, was held, and Ascelin's witness proved true; 
and then and there a sum was paid down to the claim- 
ant. Thus the great abbey which he had built was 
not lawfully his own until the day of his burial. 

Another memory of the Conquerer in Caen re- 
mains in the Truce of God which he imposed 
upon the Seigneurs of Normandy. Comparing this 
" Trenga Dei " with the Crusades, Freeman says : 
" The call to the Crusade fell in with every temper 

[122] 




■'■^^ 





BAYEUX 

of the times; the proclamation of the Truce of God 
fell in with only one, and that its least powerful side. 
Good and bad men alike were led by widely differ- 
ent motives to rush to the Holy War. The men who 
endeavoured to obey the Truce of God must often 
have found themselves the helpless victims of those 
who despised it." The Truce was preached first in 
Aquitaine in 1054, and Normandy was almost the 
last countrv to receive it. When it reached the north 
of France it was in a somewhat different form to 
that in which it had started. The early preachers 
began by denouncing all private warfare; but even 
in an age quickly fired by enthusiasm for a new 
movement, and more especially for a religious move- 
ment, obedience to this decree was found to be im- 
possible. Men had hated one another too long to 
leap suddenly into a state of perpetual love ; and the 
decree was modified, imposing abstention from pri- 
vate quarrels from Wednesday evening to Monday 
morning in each week. Even this seemed at first too 
much for the Norman spirit — " the luxury of de- 
struction was dear to the Norman mind " — but the 
preaching of Bishops Richard and Hagano at length 
took effect, and at Caen, in 1042, was convoked the 
famous Council which was formally to receive the 
Truce, and command its observance all through the 
land. 

[125] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Since then more than eight centuries have gone 
by; and yet to-day no place seems to breathe forth 
the spirit of the great duke as does Caen. In the 
castle on the cliffs at Falaise he was born, at Rouen 
was his seat and capital, at Bayeux his victories are 
preserved in a lasting memorial; but at Caen he 
lived and lies buried, at Caen he built houses and 
churches and city walls, and at Caen we may still 
think of him, not as the usurper of Harold's throne, 
not as the oppressor of Hereward the Saxon and the 
stern, uncompromising lord of the English, but as 
the hero of the Normans, a figure more commanding 
even than the pioneer Rolf, and one whose best praise 
lies in those memories of " le Conquerant " that still 
haunt the Normandy of to-day. 

After William's death the history of Caen is prac- 
tically the history of every town in Northern France. 
He had provided it with a commerce of its own, so 
that it might be strengthened from within, and he 
had fortified it against assault from without; it fell 
into English hands, like its neighbour cities, both 
under Edward III. and Henry V.; it was ravaged 
by the terrible " Black Death " in the fourteenth 
century, and harassed by the League wars and stirred 
up by the revolt of the " Nu-pieds " under Louis 
XIII. 

Finally, we find the Girondist party flying from 

[126] 



BAYEUX 

the " Convention " at Paris and setting up an insur- 
rection in the provinces, making Caen their head- 
quarters; and one more page from the awful book 
of the Revolution shows us Charlotte Corday set- 
ting out from Caen, grim, ungirlish, filled only with 
her dreadful purpose, down the long, white road to 
Paris — which to her meant Marat. 



[127] 



(Bi^uptn 9mm 



saint-l6 and coutances 



IN very early days there was in Northern 
Gaul a little city on a hill-top, with a 
river running below, and this city was 
called Briovira, after the name of the 
river Vire. But in Christian times a certain bishop 
of Coutances, a native of Briovira, extended his pas- 
toral protection to his birthplace, and called it by his 
own name, Laudus, or L6, by which it is known to 
this day, although the bishopstool has no longer a 
place there. Saint-L6 does not strike one, either at 
first sight or afterwards, as being a cathedral city. 
The first view, from the railway, is a very rural one, 
and from an artist's point of view the place is more 
or less ideal, possessing as it does two important 
qualifications of a " paintable " town — it has a river, 
and it stands on a hill. Only the outskirts of Saint- 
L6 lie about the waterside; the real town is higher 
up on the steep frowning clifif, and the Rue Torteron 
straggles across the bridge and up the hill, and 

[128] 



ST. l6 and coutances 

finally, by means of a steep little alley, leads out into 
the Place Ferrier, where stands the Cathedral. 
Here, too, the Saturday market is held, and then the 
hill-top, usually quiet and deserted, blossoms into 
life, and the Rue Torteron is all a-clatter with 
farmers' carts and the scurry of sabots. The western 
half of the market-place is known as the " Place des 
Beaux-Regards," and from it, as its name testifies, 
stretches a wide view of the river, fields, and wooded 
hills beyond; here, also, is the fountain, crowned by 
Leduc's graceful bronze peasant-girl, with water- 
vessel poised easily over her shoulder. 

Saint-L6 was a Huguenot stronghold during the 
wars of the League, and the cliff-face still retains a 
fragment of the old defences, the Tour Beauregard, 
an ivy-covered ruin clinging to the rock, which 
probably served as a watch-tower in times when the 
meadows of the Vire were not so peaceful as they 
are to-day. 

The year 1575 saw the siege which the little town 
counts among the great events of its history, when 
Colombieres, the Huguenot, held out so bravely 
against the Catholic army. Colombieres had 
marched into Saint-L6 some months before in order 
to place a garrison there in case of assault, and the 
townspeople welcomed him almost as a protecting 
angel. In the next year the enemy's forces marched 

[129] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

up to the Vire under Matignon, and demanded the 
surrender of the garrison. Colombieres sent back a 
defiant message in answer, and the enemy's guns were 
soon thundering about the rocks above the river. 
Saint-L6 happens to be guarded by water on three 
sides — on two by tributary streams, on the third by 
the Vire itself, and this western side is further 
strengthened by the steep precipice, falling sheer 
down to what is now the Basse Ville. Matignon de- 
termined to take a bold line and attack the Tour 
Beauregard as well as the Tour de la Rose, which 
stood in a more approachable part. All day the 
artillery played upon the cliff-face, and all day 
Colombieres cheered on his men to the defence, when 
a breach at the Tour Beauregard had considerably 
detracted from their strongest position. At last the 
gallant leader, springing upon the ramparts, braved 
the enemy's fire, and fell dead before their eyes 
rather than suffer the indignity of surrender. When 
his inspiring presence was gone from their midst the 
Huguenots seemed to lose heart; their defence 
wavered, their fire became less fierce, and at the end 
the Catholics stormed the rock and poured into the 
market-place. 

It is interesting to note that during the siege, as 
at an earlier one at Beauvais, the women of the 
town signalised themselves by the good service they 

[130] 



ST. l6 and coutances 

rendered, though it was certainly service of a blood- 
thirsty order, since it consisted in pouring down the 
terrible streams of boiling pitch and lead upon the 
heads of the besiegers; a mode of defence, however, 
very often resorted to by those who did not use 
firearms. 

Traces of Huguenot days can still be seen in the 
west front of the Cathedral, which has evidently 
been defaced by some fanatical hand. The irregu- 
larity of its porches gives to this fagade a curious 
one-sided appearance, that on the north having a 
round arch and the central and southern arches 
being pointed. The two towers are of different 
periods. In the seventeenth century, when the 
Cathedral was rebuilt, the perforated stone spires 
were added, the architect finding his inspiration 
in those at Bayeux and Caen. The best view of 
these is from the Ville Basse, where they come 
remarkably well into the picture, standing high 
above the grey roofs. 

Here the Cathedral-church is, as usual, the centre 
of all that there is of antiquity in the town. There 
is one especially beautiful timber house, known as 
the Maison Dieu, some little distance from the 
west front; north and south of the church are 
various narrow streets — the Rue de la Porte Dollee 
runs over the stream of the same name, and under 

[ 133] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

a curious old gateway tower; the Rue Henri 
Amiard leads to the precincts of the Cathedral, the 
south flank and its outward trend being well seen 
from here; but there is nothing very tangible in 
the way of antiquity, and one has an impression that 
when the bishop departed from Saint-L6 he must 
have taken with him the soul of the place. 

Notre Dame de Saint-L6 has a very unusual and 
original plan, widening towards the east and adding 
another aisle to the north and south ambulatories. 
On the north side is its chief curiosity, an outdoor 
pulpit, built at the end of the fifteenth century and 
probably used by Huguenot preachers, to whom a 
sermon was a sermon, whether preached under a 
vaulted roof or the open sky. What strikes one 
most about the interior of the church is its want 
of light. The nave is absolutely unlighted, having 
neither triforium nor clerestory, and the aisles have 
only one tier of large windows, whose glass is old 
and very fine, though in most cases pieced to- 
gether; the nave piers are massive, with a cluster 
of three shafts; those of the choir are quite simple, 
and have one noticeable feature, the absence of 
capitals, the vault mouldings dying away into the 
pier. 

Like Saint-L6, Coutances is a city built on a hill, 
and has therefore a peculiar charm all its own. The 

[134] 





THE CATHEDRAL FRONT ST. LO 



ST. l6 and coutances 

steep hill rises very impressively from the rolling 
country below, showing the Cathedral on the height, 
the towers of St. Pierre and the grey houses and 
apple orchards on the lower slope. As a town it 
has more to say for itself than Saint-L6; small 
though it is, in respect of the part it has played in 
the history of its surroundings it can hold its own 
with many larger towns. Coutances on its granite 
rock is the watch-tower of the flat marshy Cotentin. 
It looks out to sea on the one side and over its subject 
towns on the other; it has seen the sun flash on the 
winged helmets of the Danes, on the spears of 
Englishmen of Agincourt, on the grim figures of the 
Huguenot leaders in the days of the League, as each 
in their day marched over the plains to Coutances 
for the sake of plunder, conquest and religion. Even 
in Roman times it was of importance; the Gauls 
called it Cosedia of the Unelli, but towards the end 
of the third century Constantius Chlorus fortified 
the town and called it after his name, which it bears 
at the present day — Constantius — Constance — 
Coutances. 

The son an'd successor of this Constantius was 
Constantine the Great, from whose reign dates the 
spread of Christianity over Western Europe; and 
the Cotentin, as an old saying goes, now found itself 
divided between Saint Martin and Sainte Maria. 

[137] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Churches were built all over the land; bishops — 
every one a saint in these early days — followed the 
light of St. Augustine in England, and journeyed 
about the country making conversions and working 
miracles. 

In the fifth century Coutances received its 
first great church, the basilica of St. Eureptiolus, 
built, according to local tradition, upon the founda- 
tions of a pagan temple. Later on, Norman invaders 
did their best to undo the good work of the Christian 
bishops, and we hear that the bishops of Coutances 
in particular were compelled to take refuge in Rouen 
for a century and a half, until the peninsula finally 
passed into the hands of William Longsword in 931, 
and for a time the churches had peace. 

The barons of the Cotentin played a considerable 
part in the Norman Conquest of England, being 
among William's most loyal supporters. Taillefer, 
the famous warrior at the battle of Senlac, the 
seigneurs of Pommeraye, Blainville, Pierrepont, all 
kept up the honour of Coutances in the lands across 
the water, as well as Bishop de Montbray, who, like 
Odo of Bayeux, held the ofRce of a bishop in his own 
country and of a feudal lord in England. History 
has it on record that he held no less than two hundred 
and eighty fiefs in the conquered country, besides the 
lands which belonged to his ecclesiastical jurisdic- 

[138] 



ST. l6 and coutances 

tion in the Cotentln. After the death of the Con- 
queror various pretenders to the dukedom of 
Normandy arose, and Coutances suffered from the 
local wars, falling into the hands of Fulk of Anjou 
and being retaken by Henry I., and to complete the 
harassed state of the Cotentin a dreadful famine 
spread over the district and reduced the town to a 
state of the utmost misery. In 1203 i^ was joined to 
France with the rest of Normandy; but this prac- 
tically meant an entire renunciation of its freedom. 
Philip Augustus and Louis IX. confiscated its seign- 
eurial rights and set a French governor to rule over 
the country instead of the Norman lords, though the 
latter king probably made up, in the eyes of the 
people of Coutances, for these encroachments by 
paying a visit to their town, which honour is remem- 
bered by them to-day not only as an act of royal 
condescension but of saintly beneficence. 

In the wars of Edward III. and Henry V. 
Coutances had its share. Standing in the western 
corner of Normandy, the town came at the end of a 
long line of strongholds which one after the other 
had surrendered to the English assault. Valognes 
fell, then the Fonts d'Ouve, then Carentan and 
Saint-L6. Next Edward turned off towards Caen 
and followed on to Crecy; so that it seemed at first 
as though Coutances would escape altogether. How- 

[139] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

ever, the treachery of one of the neighbouring lords 
was to attempt what the enemy had left undone. In 
1358 there lived in the chateau of Saint-Sauveur-le- 
Vicomte a certain Geoffrey d'Harcourt, surnamed 
Le Boiteux, whose nephew had been treacherously 
murdered at Rouen. D'Harcourt resolved to re- 
venge the crime upon the city of Coutances. He got 
together an army with the help of the King of 
Navarre, and drew up his troops outside the town, 
with heavy machines for battery; and he had suc- 
ceeded in forcing a breach, when the royal army, 
arriving at an opportune moment, upset his schemes 
and sent him back to his chateau of Saint- Sauveur. 
In the latter part of the war, however, this good 
fortune left the city. After his victory at Agincourt 
the English king marched westward to subdue the 
towns in the far corner of Normandy, and Coutances 
fell into his hands in 141 8, remaining under the 
same rule until the Constable de Richemont drove 
out the English in 1449 ; and it is said that to all those 
of the inhabitants who had remained faithful to his 
cause Charles VII. made reparation for all the 
spoliation they had suffered at the hands of the 
English. This may, of course, have emanated from 
that prince's indolent good nature, which did not 
object to granting a favour where it was not too much 
trouble; but considering the utter laziness of Charles 

[140] 




u 
< 

o 

u 



ST. l6 and coutances 

it seems unlikely that he should have troubled him- 
self to this extent in the cause of a little city in the 
west, far away from Paris, when he was occupied 
with the new experience of being king in fact as well 
as name. 

The League Wars were the next to touch 
Coutances, Bricqueville-Colombieres, who, as we 
saw, was to meet a soldier's death upon the walls 
of Saint L6 some years later, took possession of the 
town in the name of the Protestants in 1561, and 
as the standards of both armies were followed by 
crowds of half-savage, ignorant peasants, thirsty for 
plunder of any sort, Coutances found itself over- 
run as it had been by a tribe of wild beasts. Men, 
women and children were massacred without 
quarter, churches and houses were rifled and, worse 
than all, the beautiful Cathedral of de Montbray 
suffered a like fate and was despoiled of sculpture, 
carving, statues and sainted relics, the bishop and 
clergy being struck down before they could attempt 
to quell these barbarian inroads. This scene was 
repeated two years later, when Colombieres burnt 
part of the town, and again in 1566. After such 
treatment, it is hardly to be wondered at that the 
inhabitants of Coutances declared for the League, 
in spite of the fact that this disobedience caused the 
temporary removal of both their civil and seign- 

[143] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

eurial rights, the one passing to Saint-L6 and the 
other to Granville. 

In the reign of Louis XIII. Richelieu imposed 
upon the inhabitants of Normandy the hateful tax 
known as the Gabelle, and by this means stirred up 
the revolt of the "Nu-pieds." Coutances shared 
in several of the subsequent disorders. One 
Poupinel, charged with a commission from the 
Parliament of Rouen, was murdered in the streets 
of Avranches; and the tax-gatherer at Coutances, 
fearing a like fate, armed all his followers in the 
event of a possible disturbance. The worthy man's 
extra precaution, however, proved to do more harm 
than good; his servants in their excess of zeal saw 
an enemy in every harmless farmer come to do his 
marketing in the town, and a deadly weapon in every 
ashen stick, and the pitch of excitement grew so high 
that when the bell of Saint Pierre began to ring for 
a christening, they took it for the warning peal of 
the tocsin, and rushed out into the streets with loud 
cries, brandishing their weapons and assaulting in 
their excitement every innocent burgher whom they 
met. 

As was but natural, this unprovoked attack 
roused the dormant spirit of revolt among the 
people; Nicolle, the unfortunate tax-gatherer, 
found out his mistake too late ; the " Nu-pieds," 

[144] 



ST. l6 and coutances 

under their chief, Le Sauvage, burnt down his 
house and murdered his brother; and for a few 
days, until the popular fury had quieted down, 
Coutances was thrown into a state of revolution. 
The terrible disturbances of the next century, 
however, did not work much havoc here. Only 
twenty-three persons in all were sent to the 
guillotine from Coutances during the Terror, and 
most of these, we are told, were burghers and not 
aristocrats, and the victims of private vengeance 
rather than of public fury. 

Coutances had a good many notable bishops. 
There was Eureptiolus, mentioned above; there 
were Laudus, the founder of Saint-L6; and Robert 
of Lisieux, who built his church on the foundations 
of the old basilica; and Geoffroy de Montbray, 
whose best life-work was given to finishing what 
Robert had begun; Hugues de Morville, who 
restored the Cathedral in the thirteenth century; and 
energetic, tenacious Geoffroy Herbert, who was pos- 
sessed with a perfect mania for building, in and out 
of Coutances, and to whom the town owes the church 
of St. Pierre. 

The Cathedral at Coutances was founded by the 
widow of Richard the Fearless in 1030, and 
completed towards the end of the century by 
Geofifroy de Montbray, William the Conqueror's 

[145] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

fighting bishop. After the union of Normandy to 
France it was rebuilt, and the work of restoration 
extended into the fifteenth century. Entering by 
the north porch one is struck by the beauty of the 
doorway, whose overhanging mouldings and shafts 
are designed with great elegance and freedom. 
The English type of capital, with round abacus 
and vigorous foliation, reminds one of the cathedrals 
of Salisbury and Lincoln; and the tympanum with 
its sadly-mutilated figures is carried on a corbel 
table of great beauty. The interior elevation of 
the bays is composed of three features — pier arches, 
a fine triforium with quatrefoil balustrade, and a 
rather small clerestory with a passage-way crossing 
its base. There is a great deal of exquisite glass 
in the cathedral, especially in the transepts. In 
the choir the love of high clerestories, admitting as 
much light as possible to the chancel, to the almost 
complete extinction of the triforium, shows itself 
here as in many other churches already noticed. 
The upper windows are in two planes, with a light 
shaft supporting the interior arches. 

In the ambulatory there is what looks like a blind 
stone bay, corbelled out and resting on the capitals 
of the columns. Probably this is a staircase leading 
to the upper passages of the triforium and clerestory. 
The lantern, which is octagon in plan, has three 

[146] 






/I 




THE SOUTH PORCH OF THE CATHEDRAL, CONTANCES 



ST. l6 and coutances 

tiers of arches, the over-hanging sides being sup- 
ported by a simple pendentive with very slight 
mouldings. 

Beyond the Place du Parvis, where the Cathedral 
stands, is the Musee, once the house of Quesnel 
Moriniere, who at his death left to the town both 
house and garden. The latter is now converted 
into a Jardin Public, which every French town, 
however small, seems to possess; and sitting or 
walking amidst its shady alleys and green lawns, 
with catalpas and orange trees in full bloom over- 
head, one feels very kindly disposed towards the 
good citizen who planted them and left this 
possession for the enjoyment of his fellows. 

During our stay at Coutances one incident took 
place which may be interesting as showing how 
mediaeval customs still survive in these little towns. 
In the middle of the night we were roused from 
sleep by the blast of a bugle in the street below. This 
was presently followed by a roll of drums and shouts 
of " Au feu! au feu! " The deep-toned bell of St. 
Nicolas then took up the alarm and echoed out far 
and wide its warning notes. In a moment the town 
was awake. Heads peered out at every window, 
and the street was soon alive with the tread of hurry- 
ing feet; cafe and cabaret furnished their contingent 
to the excited crowd, and even children were brought 

[149] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

out of their beds to gaze down the blazing street. 
The gregarious and sympathetic Frenchman can 
never allow any event to take place, be it funeral, 
festival or fire, without calling all his friends to assist 
at it; and the general turn-out into the streets re- 
minds one of the thousands of Londoners who left 
their beds to celebrate the relief of Maf eking. 



[150] 



i 



& 



Olljapt^r IEtgt|t 

LE MANS 

* ^ ^^"^^ACH land and city," says Freeman, " has 
its special characteristics which dis- 
tinguish it from others. One is famous 
for its church and its bishops, another 
for its commonwealth, another for its princes. Le 
Mans has the special privilege of being alike famous 
for all three." At Le Mans, church, counts and 
commune have each made a separate mark upon the 
roll of French history. The communal power gave 
the town strength within itself; the counts of Maine, 
whose line dates back to the time of Hugh Capet, 
made of it a mighty feudal possession; and the great 
church above the Sarthe, whose traditions have been 
handed down even from Saint Martin of Tours, 
stood apart on its hill-crest and watched over the 
city. 

As was usually the case in these powerful cities 
the commune was the last element to arise at 
Le Mans; before its appearance we find both 

[151] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Church and State fully established on the hill. 
Julian built his church under the rule of Trajan; 
Defensor, the local ruler, lived in his palace side 
by side with the great missionary bishop who had 
converted him to Christianty; and after him came 
the line of counts who seem to have been always at 
war either with Normandy on the one side or with 
Anjou on the other. Considering these two power- 
ful neighbours, it is wonderful what a prestige Maine 
did succeed in establishing, by the help of her 
bishops, and also by the help of the strong fortress 
which was her capital city. But in the reign of the 
prince from Liguria, Azo, to whom Maine had de- 
scended in an indirect line, a third factor thrust itself 
into the growing fabric of the city. It may have 
been the example of Italian states which the coming 
of an Italian ruler had brought before the Ceno- 
mannians more forcibly; it may have been the en- 
croachments of the Countess Gersendis, regent in the 
absence of her husband ; but from whatever cause, it 
was certain that memories of the municipal rights 
of ancient Gaul were being kindled amongst the 
people — murmurs were heard of a time when, under 
the Roman yoke, a prince did not signify a tyrant — 
and presently the Cenomannian burghers took the 
law into their own hands and met together to de- 
clare their freedom and — a testimony of their 

[152] 




Y 



ST. PIERRE, CONTANCES 



LE MANS 

strength — compelled Goeffrey of Mayenne and all 
the surrounding princes to swear their civic oath. 
Thus was founded the earliest commune in Gaul, 
and when, soon afterwards, the Conqueror subdued 
Le Mans and the whole state of Maine, the city still 
retained its newly won privileges, William binding 
himself over to respect and observe the customs per- 
taining to the same, the ancient " justices " of the 
city. A threefold history of this kind leads one 
naturally to look for a threefold interest within the 
town itself; yet this is lacking in the city of to-day — 
its past glories lie rather in tradition and associa- 
tion than in anything more tangible. The church 
still stands upon the hill, but it stands alone. Almost 
every trace of feudal prince and ancient commune 
has been swept away, and the old Le Mans has 
become a city of solid white-painted buildings and 
clean, sunny places. By the river-side and near the 
Cathedral a few old houses and crooked alleys still 
remain, and here too may be seen fragments of the 
old city walls, built by Roman forethought in the 
third and fourth centuries. These ramparts have 
stood the town in good stead. From its position and 
importance, Le Mans has always been coveted by 
the enemy, and since the days of Clovis down to the 
war with Prussia it has known the tread of besieging 
hosts at its gates. The Normans had it under the 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Conqueror, and lost it under his son, Duke Robert; 
during the Hundred Years' War it was besieged five 
times ; the Huguenots took it during the wars of the 
League; after the fall of the Bourbon monarchy it 
was seized in desperation by the Royalists of La 
Vendee, but retaken by Marceau; and nearer our 
own day comes the terrible " week of battles " in 
January, 1871, during which the Prussians occupied 
Le Mans and defeated the army of the Loire so 
severely as to destroy all hope of relieving Paris. 

" In the second half of the campaign, in the 
contest against France . . . both belligerents kept 
the same goal before their eyes — Paris: the one in 
order to dictate peace from within the walls of the 
conquered capital, the other in order to gain that 
victory which would give to the war the long and 
eagerly-desired change of fortune." During the 
winter of 1870 the army of the Loire had set out to 
reach Paris from Orleans; but a succession of de- 
feats drove it back to the Loire, from whence it was 
to retreat upon Le Mans. Pursuit did not follow at 
once. The Prussian Army, under Prince Frederick 
Charles, waited between Orleans and Vendome until 
the New Year, when an advance was ordered, and 
the three divisions of the army marched upon Le 
Mans by their respective roads. Passing Vendome, 
which was the scene of a sharp engagement with the 

[156] 



LE MANS 

enemy, they crossed the country between the Loire 
and the Sarthe with some difficulty; bad weather 
had made the roads almost impassable, and the dis- 
trict was cut up into vineyards, farmsteads and small 
valleys. " The invader rarely gets a general view 
of the country even from elevated positions ; he must 
renounce any plan of acting with large displayed 
masses, especially in the case of artillery; the action 
of cavalry is restricted to the roads, and the whole 
burden of the contest falls exclusively on the 
infantry." Fighting their way through the scattered 
French forces two divisions managed to come within 
ten miles of Le Mans by January 9, and on the next 
day the battle began. The Prussian watchword was 
" Forward with all speed," and such speed did they 
make that at the end of three days they had advanced 
upon the French in their strong position, keeping 
always to the maxim, " Stand firm in the centre and 
act on the offensive at the two wings." 

" On January 11, the French army of the West was 
completely defeated near Le Mans by the German 
Second Army, under Prince Frederick Charles and 
the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, and Le Mans 
was immediately occupied." Such was the an- 
nouncement in The Times newspaper on the 
morning of January 13, 1871. 

General Chanzy, who was in command of the 

[157] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

French army of the West, courted defeat by 
advancing upon Paris, and by his retreat upon Le 
Mans invited the Germans to occupy it. Prince 
Frederick Charles, leaving Orleans and passing 
Beaugency and Vendome, arrived at the latter 
place in time to see Chanzy repulsed, but not in 
time to cut off the French army, w^hich was now 
in full retreat towards Paris. A series of rear- 
guard engagements followed as the Prussians drove 
the French before them towards Le Mans. The 
storming of Change was the last of the many battles 
around Le Mans. It lies in a hollow with hills 
curving round it on two sides, the north and west, 
and on these hills the French had taken up their 
position. They had, apparently, no desire to ad- 
vance and clear away the Germans who were 
attacking them, laboriously marching through snow 
and the thick woods which covered the position. 
The attacking force ran from tree to tree and sought 
whatever shelter was available, making frequent 
charges whenever an occasion offered itself. Not- 
withstanding their pertinacity they failed to carry 
the heights, and were for some time in danger of 
suffering a severe repulse, as the reserves on whom 
they relied had not yet come up, but were pounding 
their way along the frozen roads from La Chartre 
to Le Mans. The troops bivouacked in the snow on 

[158] 




< 
H-1 



LE MANS 

the night of the nth, and when the frosty sun rose 
on the morning of the 12th the French outposts had 
been withdrawn and retired upon Le Mans. By this 
time the Tenth Corps had joined the attacking force, 
and after heavy fighting in the streets and squares 
the town was won in the evening, and on the follow- 
ing day Prince Frederick Charles established there 
his headquarters. 

General Chanzy in his defence of Le Mans 
accomplished all that courage and gallantry in his 
dire situation could suggest; he disputed the 
country inch by inch before the advancing armies of 
the Duke of Mecklenburg and Von der Taun, but 
he was unable with his raw levies, with recruits un- 
drilled, unshod and unofhcered, to withstand the 
furious onslaught of the enemy. Such is the short 
tribute paid to the French general by The Times 
correspondent with the Prussian Army. 

The Cathedral of Saint-Julien sits astride a great 
rock overlooking the Place des Jacobins — a square 
wide enough for once to allow of an adequate view 
of the great church on its eastern side. It stands so 
high that the want of a central tower is felt less than 
would be the case at a lower level. The only tower 
of any pretensions is over the south transept — 
originally the north transept possessed one also — 
but even this is rather inefficient. It is advisable to 

[161] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

enter the Cathedral by the west door rather than 
by the south porch, so as to prevent the uninterest- 
ing west wall of the nave from becoming a factor 
of one's first impression. From this point it is the 
choir that first arrests our attention; we pass on 
through the lower, simpler nave and through the 
great soaring chancel arch that to look upon makes 
us giddy, to the blaze of deep-coloured glass and the 
magnificent chevet of stilted arches placed close to- 
gether and looking from their great height much 
narrower than they really are. The same idea of 
height and light prevails in the transepts, for by this 
time the French architect had begun to gauge the 
emotional efifect of tremendous height, and to dare 
greater things than his predecessors had ever 
dreamed; while the same insatiable desire for light 
that we saw in the choir at Amiens has possessed the 
builder of Saint Julien, and led him to make his 
transepts nearly all window — especially the northern 
one, which has a triforium lighted by beautiful 
fifteenth-century glass — and to put a double ambula- 
tory round the choir, both lighted by that marvellous 
jewelled glass. 

The Romanesque nave was restored in the 
twelfth century, but this restoration was apparently 
a replacement of a great deal of old work, with only 
slight modifications of the original inspiration. A 

[162] 



LE MANS 

large door, decorated with sculpture and bearing a 
strong analogy to the Portail Royal of Chartres, was 
opened in the middle of the south aisle. Further 
changes were made in the early part of the thirteenth 
century, when the ancient apses were destroyed, and 
the admirable choir, as we now see it, was built — 
" a masterpiece of effect " — ^with its encircling 
chapels radiating like the petals of a flower. The 
vaulting approaches in construction the " cupola in- 
spiration"; but here, as at Angers and Poitiers, it is 
an example of only the last traces which remain to 
us of the domical design. 

Besides the Cathedral there are two churches 
worthy of note — Notre Dame de la Couture, in the 
eastern quarter of the town, amongst the shops and 
markets; and Notre Dame (sometimes called St. 
Julien) du Pre, across the river in the far west. The 
latter church, in spite of having been a good deal 
restored, is extremely interesting. In the nave hangs 
a little printed history, which tells us that the church 
was founded by the first bishop of Le Mans, Saint 
Julian, sent as a missionary by Saint Peter, In 
honour of his great master Julian built a basilica, 
which was enlarged by Saint Innocent in the sixth 
century and restored about 1050. In the fifteenth 
century both church and monastery suffered from 
fire ; two centuries later the pious Benedictines made 

[163] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

some alterations, but during the Revolution the 
church was sacked and burnt, and the crypt, together 
with the tombs of Saint Julian and Saint Hadouin, 
entirely destroyed. The task of restoration was left 
to the faithful in the nineteenth century. In spite of 
the modern work, however, the church contains a 
great deal that is very interesting and undoubtedly 
ancient. The nave pillars especially, with their 
carved capitals, are worth individual notice. In 
those of the north aisle, from west to east, we find 
portrayed: 

No. I. Animals caught in a thicket, turning their 
heads over their shoulders to free themselves from 
the branches. Notice here how the volute at the 
corner has suggested to the sculptor a human face. 

No. 2. Leaves and curiously twisted arabesques. 

No. 3. The same in a simpler form. 

No. 4. Volutes and grotesque heads at the angles. 

No. 5. [South aisle, east to west] gives a kind of 
rope-work, with volutes and human-headed dragons. 

No. 6. Is much the same as No. 3. 

No. 7. Flat applique leaves, volutes and ball- 
flowers; and in 

No. 8. We return to the wild animals. Both 
aisles are arcaded on their outer walls ; on the north 
we find arches ornamented with ball-flowers, on the 
south an arcade of some interest, as showing the 

[164] 



yS^m^^^-Z'^'^^'-^'^'v.~.. ^■■^■■.?^^' ^ J ""t^' • i^ 






"iVWlf^flS^ff^!!^^''^'^ 




&i«.;i»*„«^ i....^..^ ■: ' Ab. ,../»5! 4., , Jf^/ ." 



u»M ,r^ \if,hi,i 



NOTRE DAME DE LA COUTURE, LE MANS 



LE MANS 

immense variety of design in its capitals — dragons, 
fir-cones, arabesques, and, strangest of all, winged 
lions, with a most Assyrian air. Apart from the 
capitals, the architecture of the church is quite 
simple, and whoever rehandled it has done so 
much in keeping with the old work. The windows 
are round-headed: the clerestory consists of single 
lights, and the triforium is a blind arcade. 

Notre Dame de la Couture — the name originally 
referred to the Cultura Dei — -is an old Benedictine 
foundation, dating from the sixth century, but 
destroyed during the Revolution; the church, 
however, remains, with most of the old work 
intact, the two square fourteenth-century towers 
rising in quaint contrast to the modern buildings 
around them. Between the towers a remarkable 
Last Judgment confronts the visitor from the west 
doorway. The central figure. Justice, weighs a sin- 
ner in the balance, and apparently finds him want- 
ing, if one may judge by the angle of the scales and 
the expectantly gleeful attitude of a devil amongst 
the " goats " on the left hand. Of the interior, the 
choir is the oldest part, and here we find eleventh- 
century work, especially in the crypt, which contains 
the tomb of the founder. Saint Bertrand, and shows 
the rudely carved capitals and square-edged arches 
of an age before architects had blossomed out into 

[167] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

beauty of sculpture and design. The same simplicity 
characterises the choir, which has four bays and a 
chevet of five-round arches, with massive piers, and 
the abacus square and voluted at the angles. The 
vaulting of the chevet is terminated by figures of 
saints, which rest upon the shafts of the clerestory 
windows. There is no triforium, its position being 
taken throughout the church by corbel tables in the 
form of human and animal faces. The nave consists 
of a single wide body without aisles, and set in the 
blank wall are three large bays of relieving arches, 
their space being filled in with curious old tapestry, 
in which appears a medley of Biblical subjects, 
pastoral and hunting scenes, and Chinese pagodas. 

This quiet little church was in the very centre of 
the furious street fighting which followed the first 
rush into the city of the Prussian troops, and fulfilled 
its sacred mission of giving shelter to the wounded 
and comfort to the dying who lay stretched in the 
neighbouring streets of the town. "We entered," 
says the war correspondent of The Times, " the pic- 
turesque old church of Notre Dame de la Couture, 
interesting from its quaint mixed architecture, its old 
choir and vaulted walls, and were told by the meek- 
looking priest who sadly showed us over it, and was 
busy cleaning it as we entered, that no fewer than 
six hundred wounded had passed the night in it." 

[i68] 



ANGERS 

^**w-*^E Le Mans marks the first stage from Nor- 
I mandy upon the southward road, Anglers 

P may certainly be counted as another 

stepping-stone to the lands of the Loire 
— another landmark in our own history — another 
city upon a hill, and yet differing from all the hill 
cities before it. We are now in what Freeman calls 
" before all things the land and the city of counts," 
the city which gave to history the name of Fulk the 
Black, warrior and pilgrim and enemy of Odo of 
Chartres; of Geoffrey the Hammer, who strove with 
the Conqueror at Domfront and Alengon; of Rene 
the minstrel and of Margaret his daughter, who 
carried to England the spirit of the old Angevin 
line, and fought with the strength of two for the 
inheritance of her husband, meek, scholarly Henry 
of Windsor, for whom the shield of faith had more 
significance than the shield of the warrior. 

The house of Anjou cannot but have an interest to 

[169] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

an Englishman, since it is the parent stock of our 
longest dynasty. Long before it came through Nor- 
mandy into contact with England it held its own, 
however, in Gaul, Roman and Frankish. The An- 
decavi, who settled on the Maine, were an important 
tribe, and their city was of equal importance. In 464 
the Saxons wandered down from Normandy and 
overran Anjou, but their occupation was merely 
temporary, and left no traces in city or people, as did 
the Saxon colonies at Bayeux and in England; and 
when this one cloud has cleared off, an open field is 
left for the history of the counts. Now the Counts 
of Anjou may be said to stand very near the head of 
the list of all the rulers in France at this early time 
— a long list, which numbers many important names, 
Hughs and Roberts of Paris, Williams and Richards 
of Normandy, Thibauts of Champagne — ^yet 
against whose feats of arms and feats of policy the 
Angevins can measure theirs almost one by one. 
*' The restless spirit of the race showed itself some- 
times for good and sometimes for evil, but there was 
no Count of Anjou who could be called a fool, a 
coward, or a faineant.'''' 

The first count, Ingelgar, received his dominion 
from Charles the Bald, in about 870. After him 
comes Fulk the Red, who enlarged his father's bor- 
ders beyond the river; Fulk the Good, the scholar 

[170] 



ANGERS 

who defended his learning with the well-known 
proverb, " An unlettered king is but a crowned ass," 
a saying which spread beyond his own realm and 
found favour at the court of England ; and the war- 
like Geoffrey of the Grey Tunic, who repelled the 
Breton and Aquitanian incursions and fought in 
Prankish and German wars besides. Geoffrey it was 
who gave to the line the famous Fulk the Black, the 
first count who appears to any great extent in French 
history — the history, that is, of France proper, at 
that time apart from the great duchies on her boun- 
daries. His wars with Odo filled a great part of his 
reign, and brought him down as far as the Loire, 
where, through the alliance of a count of Perigueux, 
Tours became his for a short time; also Saumur, 
after the victory of Pontlevois. On two occasions he 
turned pilgrim ; and he is also found at Rome, apply- 
ing to the Pope for consecration of his new monastery 
near Loches, which Hugh of Tours, whose see Fulk 
had robbed, refused to consecrate unless the stolen 
lands were restored. Naturally the Gallican Church 
resented this destruction of their privileges ; the full 
wrath of the episcopate was pronounced against the 
recreant count, and a legend adds that in further 
punishment a wind came from heaven and blew 
down his newly-built church. How this uncanonical 
behaviour must have vexed the shades of Fulk the 

[171] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

pious ! Fulk Nerra was followed by Geoffrey, self- 
christened the Hammer. He rebelled against his 
father during his lifetime, but after his death con- 
tinued the war with Chartres, and actually got pos- 
session of Tours, the one city for which every Ange- 
vin strove. Count Thibaut was formally deprived 
of the city by royal command, and it was handed 
over to Geoffrey, under the favour, the superstitious 
chroniclers make haste to add, of Saint Martin. 
Notwithstanding this royal grant, Henry, the Frank 
king, seems to have been perpetually at war with 
Geoffrey, and even to have called in feudal service 
of the Norman duke to aid him against the Angevin 
count. William himself was no friend to Anjou. 
The mastery over Maine was a bone of contention to 
the two great powers on its north and south borders ; 
and when Geoffrey obtained the guardianship of 
little Count Hugh, and came into immediate contact 
with Normandy, a definite struggle arose. Geoffrey 
aimed at the two outposts of William's territory, 
Alengon and Domfront. Alengon, through the 
treachery of its lord, surrendered to him ; Domfront 
was also disaffected, and for a moment it seemed as 
though the land of the great Norman were to be 
invaded by his southern neighbour. But William 
was prepared for any emergency. He marched 
straight to Domfront, where Geoffrey had already 

[172] 



ANGERS 

stationed his troops, and laid siege to it. He re- 
mained before the town for some time before news 
came of the advance of Geofifrey himself; and when 
the Count at last arrived, he sent word of his readi- 
ness to give battle. But when the morning broke 
upon the Norman host, drawn up before the fortress 
all expectant of a battle with the Angevins, lo! no 
enemy was to be seen. Geoffrey, whose surname of 
Hammer by no means maligned his prudence, had 
thought better of the scheme in the night, and retired 
with all his men. The Norman writers, of course, 
set this down to cowardice. But one would like to 
hear the other side of the story. " Here, and 
throughout the war, the lions stand in need of a 
painter, or rather their painters suddenly refuse to 
do their duty. We have no Angevin account of the 
siege of Domf ront to set against our evidently highly 
coloured Norman picture." 

" The French yearning to make everything new " 
has done its work in Angers, but though Fulk, Geof- 
frey, Rene, and the rest would be at a loss to recog- 
nise their old capital in the trim modern town, 
enough remains to show us what has been. No city 
standing as Angers does on rising ground above a 
wide river, with a mass of castle bastions sloping up 
the hill, could fail to have made history in its day. 
The modern town may be disposed of in a few words 

[173] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

— it is clean and full of life, and altogether very far 
removed from the " black Angers " known to our 
ancestors. This mediaeval and grim-sounding title, 
reminiscent of dungeons and tyrant princes, probably 
either meant that the ancient town was closely and 
squalidly built, or else referred to the dark slate with 
which the country abounds, and which might well 
have been used for building purposes all over the 
town, as we still see it in some houses by the river. 

The attractive side of Angers is that facing the 
water, and the river is quite worthy of the town on 
its banks, though Mr. Henry James does censure 
the " perversity in a town lying near a great river, 
and yet not upon it." It is true that Angers has not 
got as far as the Loire ; but it has what is next best, a 
tributary of the great river — a wide placid flow, 
which makes no mean show here, spanned as it is by 
three fine bridges. Looking upstream from the low- 
est bridge one sees the old and the new together; the 
clean well-to-do water-front, pleasant boulevards, 
and a bright little quay with every house the pattern 
of its neighbour; and above this the black mass of 
the castle, whose solid hugeness makes the crowning 
towers of Saint Maurice look as if they were cut out 
of paper, so delicately and sharply defined are they 
against the sky. Down river there is a long and 
sunny path, broad green meadows and a stretch of 

[174] 



ANGERS 

country beyond, and little fishing boats dotted about 
on the water. 

But what Angers has of the best is its castle, 
though it be " the work of intruding Kings," Philip 
Augustus and Louis IX., and not of the Angevin 
counts. It is, indeed, more massive than picturesque 
— " it has no beauty, no grace, no detail, nothing that 
charms or detains you ; it is simply very old and very 
big — so big and so old that this simple impression is 
enough, and it takes its place in your recollections as 
a perfect specimen of a superannuated stronghold." 
The huge grim bastions, girded with iron bands as 
though to give added strength to their already giant- 
like solidity, and the deep moat, filled in old days by 
the waters of the Maine, stood there for a very real 
and terrible use, and even now are a splendid ex- 
ample of how men in the Middle Ages defended 
themselves against all comers. The very steepness 
and plainness of the vast walls prevented an enemy 
from gaining any foothold, even supposing him to 
have crossed the moat in safety. But this great house 
of defence now gives on to a modern boulevard; a 
kitchen-garden occupies the moat, and sends the 
scent of thyme and rosemary up through those loop- 
hole windows, whose most peaceful prospect of old 
was the black, silent water below, and whose usual 
occupants were armed men with cross-bows, or boil- 

I ml 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

ing lead, or something equally quieting to the un- 
wary spirit attempting to scale those unscalable 
ramparts. 

In the heart of the town is a very comfortable 
little inn at the sign of the " Cheval Blanc." The 
house has a quiet and rather old-fashioned atmos- 
phere, perhaps a relic of past days, as the inn itself 
has stood there since the sixteenth century, though 
the present building is quite modern. Another relic 
— though the term hardly suits such a hale and hearty 
person — is a delightful old waiter, who has been at 
the Cheval Blanc for forty years, and wears on his 
coat with the greatest pride a minute piece of tricolor 
— the recognition of thirty years' service. Close to 
the Cheval Blanc is the Prefecture, and this contains 
a hidden treasure in the shape of an old cloister, 
which runs along one side of the court. This cloister 
was not discovered until 1836, but the remains them- 
selves date from the twelfth century, and are of ex- 
traordinary interest, not merely from their antiquity, 
but also from the immense variety of subject sculp- 
ture which adorns them. There are several bays of 
round-headed arches, and from their capitals and 
mouldings dragons and toads, snakes and winged 
lions, glare and wriggle at the visitor in a grotesque 
medley. In some cases Scriptural subjects are repre- 
sented — there is notably the murder of the Innocents, 

[176] 



ANGERS 

a marvellously preserved and realistic fresco, remin- 
iscent both in treatment and colour scheme of some 
of the Bayeux tapestry; the killing of Goliath by 
David, and the presentation of his head to Saul; and 
inside a very modern council-room, a wonderful alle- 
gory representing the defeat of Vice by Virtue. The 
Lamb, enhaloed, is in the centre; beneath are two 
lions tearing apart a wild boar; and in the jambs are 
virtues, armed with shield and sword, trampling 
upon demon vices — men struggling with wild beasts 
— and adoring angels swinging censers. This is 
partly coloured, and the sculpture is very fine, great 
attention being given to detail. 

Freeman declares the city of Angers to be the 
headquarters of the Angevin style of architecture, 
and quotes as a noticeable example of that style the 
Cathedral of St. Maurice, which differs at least as 
widely from that of the French churches as from that 
of Normandy. The object of the Angevin architect 
was breadth, and he has sacrificed both length and 
height to the attainment of his end. The view from 
the west doorway of St. Maurice shows a well-known 
example of what is termed the " hall plan " — a single 
wide nave, having choir and transepts, but without 
ambulatories or aisles. That the church originally 
had aisles, however, is evident from a plan of Saint 
Maurice given in Mr. Lethaby's " Mediaeval Art"; 

[ 179 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

they were removed, it is assumed, in order to sim- 
plify the construction of the vault. The great reliev- 
ing arches of the nave as it now stands are divided 
into three bays only. " In everything," Freeman says, 
" the tendency is to have a few large members rather 
than many small ones. There is a certain boldness 
and simplicity about this kind of treatment; but there 
is also a certain bareness, and an Angevin church 
looks both lower and shorter than it really is." The 
vaulting of the roof here follows the same sub-domi- 
cal design as that of Notre Dame de la Couture at 
Le Mans. The stained glass is perhaps the best 
feature of the church as far as actual beauty goes; 
some of it dates from the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies, and both in nave and choir it is very fine, par- 
ticularly in the windows of the apse and in the rose 
window of the north transept. The tapestry which 
hangs in the nave and transepts represents scenes 
from the Apocalypse, and is very fine Arras work of 
the fourteenth century. 



[i8o] 




TOURS AND BLOIS 

'O much has been said and written of the 
Loire country during the past fifty years 
that the modern writer has very little 
ground left to him, unless it be to avoid 
calling it the " Garden of France." Yet over-written 
as it may be, Touraine has not lost any of the charm 
and romance which must always attach to a wide 
sunny land, watered by a great river, and " peopled " 
— one might almost say — by chateaux, every one of 
which has set its mark upon French history. Cer- 
tainly there is something very delightful, because so 
unlike anything else in France, in the endless vista 
of grey-green levels — here and there a group of slim 
shivering poplars or a flash of sunlight upon the 
wide waters of the Loire, which winds in and out of 
the flats like a great lazy shining serpent — flying 
sometimes into a sudden rage and flooding the land, 
or subsiding sulkily amongst high banks and stretches 
of dry sand. 

[i8i] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

It is these moods and tempers of the great river 
that prevent any navigation upon its waters; other 
smaller rivers — the Seine, for instance, and our own 
Thames — are alive with craft of every kind ; but here, 
on the great boundary stream between north and 
south, which seems made for a waterway to the sea, 
no busy steamers ply up and down with the tide — no 
barges and market boats disturb the calm of its wide 
reaches. There never was, for its size, such an erratic 
and useless river; yet we can afford to forgive it, for 
the sake of the land which it waters and the cities 
on its banks. 

The impression one carries away from Tours is 
one of wideness, and brightness, and sunshine — 
shaded by one or two ancient corners. It is above 
all things a town really lived in and appreciated by 
its inhabitants, many of whom are English. Tours 
is, or used to be, a famous educational centre, and 
for the sake of education, or economy, or both, whole 
families have migrated there, besides the unmistaka- 
bly English students who have been grafted on to a 
family to learn French. And the river-side shows, 
if not a strenuously busy, at least a very sociable side 
of the town life, especially in the summer evenings, 
when the Tourangeaux, native and adopted, leave the 
white houses and busy streets, and use their river 
bank for a pleasant walk. 

[182] 



TOURS AND BLOIS 

It is curious how in France each step towards the 
south seems to be a step further in French history. 
First there is Normandy, the land of the early North- 
ern warriors, with the fierce blood untamed in their 
veins; then Maine and Anjou, recalling the days of 
our own Plantagenet kings, and the close connection 
of France with England; while Touraine brings back 
to us the craft of Louis XI. and the magnificence of 
Frangois I^^ Tours itself, however, has never been 
content to lie fallow for long; ever since some Ro- 
man emperor transported it from the right bank of 
the Loire to the left, and made it the capital of Lug- 
dunensis Tertia, the town has had an important part 
assigned to it, and has played out that part to the full. 
Though in old days Tours was only half of the place, 
the cite, the bourg, built round the tomb and shrine 
of Saint Martin and first called by his name, was of 
equal if not greater importance, from the many pil- 
grimages to the resting-place of the great saint. This 
is easily understood when one considers in what ven- 
eration Saint Martin was held by the Gauls and their 
descendants. Saint Gatianus, the first bishop of 
Tours, began the good work in the third century, but 
to Martin is due the subsequent spread of Chris- 
tianity, not only in Touraine but all over France, so 
that he really shares with Saint Denis the honour of 
patron saint. Born of pagan parents in Fannonia, 

[183] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Martin became a catechumen at ten years old, and 
five years later was forced, much against his will, to 
enter the army. After his final conversion and bap- 
tism, however, he left it to become the eager disciple 
and co-worker of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers; and in 
371 he was consecrated Bishop of Tours. The 
legend of Martin's conversion is well known (at any 
rate it may be found commemorated in the painted 
windows of churches all over France) — how the 
young soldier stationed outside the gate of Amiens 
shared his cloak with a passing beggar, and how the 
following night Christ appeared to him in a vision, 
making known to the angels of Heaven this thing 
done to Himself as to one of " the least of these." 

After Martin's death at Candes his relics were 
brought to Tours, and in the fifth century Saint Per- 
petuus built a splendid basilica round the shrine. 
This church became the nucleus of the bourg of Mar- 
tinopolis, known to the Middle Ages as Chateauneuf. 
Side by side with the church a monastery sprang up, 
and in the reign of Charlemagne the famous scholar 
Alcuin became abbot and founded there his school 
of theology. Late in the tenth century the basilica 
was destroyed by fire; two centuries later saw the 
completion of its successor, but this again, after suf- 
fering many evils from Huguenot and Revolutionist 
hands, disappeared under the First Empire to make 

[184] 




TOUR DE L'HORLAGE, TOURS 



TOURS AND BLOIS 

a passage-way for the Rue des Halles. Two towers — 
the church originally had five — now look mournfully 
at one another across the busy, narrow street: the 
Tour de I'Horloge, square and solid, with a leaded 
roof capped by a small eighteenth-century dome, and 
the taller Tour Charlemagne, so called for the rather 
insufficient reason that Charlemagne buried his third 
wife, Luitgarde, beneath its base. These are the sole 
relics of the ancient culte of Saint Martin; though 
to his memory in latter days a new basilica has reared 
itself on the other side of the street. 

Until the days of the League, the kings of France 
always found an attraction in the sunny Touraine 
meadows, and occupied themselves a good deal with 
Tours itself. On the outskirts of the town is the vil- 
lage of Plessis-les-Tours, where stood the famous 
fortress of Louis XL, who lived, plotted and died 
within its walls; here also Louis XII. was pro- 
claimed " father of his people," and here Henri HI. 
and the King of Navarre met together for a common 
defence against the League. To an Englishman the 
name naturally associates itself with Quentin Dur- 
ward, and calls up a picture of the grim fortress so 
vividly described by Walter Scott, with its triple 
moat and high palisades, its dark walls and turreted 
gateways, defended by three hundred Scottish 
arches, and the donjon tower " which rose like a 

[187] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

black Ethiopian giant, high into the air." The castle 
of Plessis was in old days a terror to the country- 
side; the surrounding forest was a perfect network 
of man-traps, and the intruder, were he fortunate 
enough to avoid these, had no chance of escape from 
the arrows of the Scottish guard in their iron " swal- 
lows' nests " upon the walls. Hardly less mysterious, 
indeed, is the central figure within these grim sur- 
roundings — Louis himself, whose character, with its 
strange mingling of guile and religious fervour, un- 
fathomable craft and childish superstition, baffled 
the men of his own day as it has baffled posterity. He 
was feared by those who served him, and he was 
obeyed, because a terrible alternative awaited the 
disobedient; but he was neither loved nor understood. 
Of love, indeed, he had little need, and it was not his 
pleasure that men should understand him. 

Very little, however, remains to-day of the " verger 
du roi Louis " to show that it was once the home of 
kings. It has gone the way of most of the " illusions 

... in the good city of Tours with regard to 
Louis XL," and only a few fragments and " incon- 
sequent lumps " share with some modern buildings 
the site of this royal prison of Plessis-les-Tours. 

The western fagade of Tours Cathedral, with its 
two small towers, is a noticeable example of the 
waning Gothic style. The detail is so " charmingly 

[i88] 




ST. GATIEU, TOURS 



TOURS AND BLOIS 

executed as almost to induce the belief, in spite of 
the fanciful extravagance which it displays, that the 
architects were approaching to something new and 
beautiful when the mania for classic detail overtook 
them." Looking eastward from the west door one 
notices the northerly trend of the Cathedral's axis, 
commencing from the transept arches. The choir 
spreads outward at its first bay, the side walls not 
following the alignment of the body of the church. 
The glass is both abundant and magnificent in the 
nave lights, and the enormous clerestory windows 
display it to the greatest possible advantage. Un- 
fortunately, the fine rose window in the north tran- 
sept is marred by the cutting across of a vertical 
pillar, inserted as a support to the crest of the arch. 
In both transepts the triforium arches present a curi- 
ous and novel arrangement, the reason for which is 
not very apparent. The arches are in a double 
plane, but the openings are not directly one behind 
another. 

The pier arches of the nave are plain, witK 
simple panel-like spandrils, the piers themselves 
supporting a very large clerestory and glazed tri- 
forium. In the latter the heads of the arches are 
filled in with rich Flamboyant tracery, either in 
imitation of the fleur-de-lys, or with varieties of 
wheel tracery in double plane. The choir is much 

[191] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

earlier than the nave, and its bays show a beautiful 
proportion and harmony in its members, the whole 
elevation being supported on clustered columns 
with stalk capitals and square abacus. In the apse 
the tracery is a slight variant from that of the 
choir; the arch-heads are here filled in with trefoil 
instead of quatrefoil tracery. On the north side of 
the Cathedral are the remains of some cloisters, 
joined to the main body by two flying buttresses. 

To most travellers in France the town of Blois is 
associated with a chateau rather than with a cathe- 
dral ; it is one of a group of towns known and visited 
for the historic piles which tower above their grey 
roofs — ^Amboise and Chambord, Langeais and 
Chenonceaux, Chaumont and Montrichard. We 
count Blois with these rather than with the towns 
famous for their churches, and the bishopstool 
comes rather as a surprise, or as a thing uncon- 
sidered. The Cathedral, built in the seventeenth 
century and dedicated to St. Louis, occupies a 
magnificent position, overhanging the grey water- 
front of the Loire in a fashion which seems to call 
for some nobler building. However, although 
built according to a curiously mixed design in 
bastard Gothic and Renaissance, there is a certain 
sense of proportion in the interior of the church, 
the vaulting being especially simple and broad in 

[192] 



TOURS AND BLOIS 

effect. The nave consists of nine bays, with a 
low clerestory, terminating in stone panels, which 
occupy the place usually assigned to the triforium, 
and are left in the rough with a view to subsequent 
enrichment by sculpture. The examples of adorn- 
ment at the east end, however, make one feel that 
the church has been mercifully spared any fur- 
ther fantasies from the chisel of the Renaissance 
sculptor. 

Far better is the Church of St. Nicolas, whose 
twin towers stand out dark and sharp midway 
between the water-front and the overhanging mass 
of the Chateau. It belongs to the tenth and 
eleventh centuries, and has not been much restored 
except by whitewash, which covers most of the 
interior, but allows a good deal of old work to be 
seen, especially in the north aisle, where, near the 
pulpit, we find round-headed windows very deeply 
splayed. The nave has five bays, and a blind 
triforium, consisting of an arcade of four small 
arches in each bay, the last two eastward having 
only three arches set in the blind wall. These last 
bays are much ruder than the others, especially on 
the south side. The clerestory has twin lights, 
with a rose in the head of the arch, as is seen in 
the Cathedral at Chartres. The transepts are 
good, and the little corbel-tables running the 

[193] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

whole way round, form a series of those grotesque 
and curiously unecclesiastical faces of men and 
beasts which we find so often in early church 
sculpture. In this particular series a gridiron 
plays a prominent part, which is curious, as the 
church appears to have no connection with Saint 
Lawrence. Behind the choir is an old chapel 
dedicated to Saint Joseph, which has a Romanesque 
apse; and It is noticeable that in this part of the 
church the roof groining Is simple — that is, with- 
out ribs. In the lantern, which Is in the form of 
a cupola, each pendentive is terminated by the 
figure of a saint In its niche. 

High above Saint Nicolas a steep flight of steps 
leads up to the great Chateau which has made history 
for the town below. The most striking view Is 
from the other side, where the magnificent " aile 
Francois I^' " rises in imposing fashion above the 
high road; but the entrance is in the Louis XII. wing 
to the east, and here the beautiful Inner court opens 
out a varied display of richness. The eastern wing 
Itself contains the private apartments of Louis XII. 
and his wife, Anne de Bretagne — these are now con- 
verted Into a local museum and picture gallery — and 
the lower storey Is in the form of an arcade, with 
unrestored capitals of the fifteenth century. Facing 
this is the wing of " ruled lines and blank spaces," 

[194] 





o 





TOURS AND BLOIS 

constructed by Gaston d'Orleans, brother of Louis 
XIII., upon the foundations of a wing erected by his 
ancestor, the poet-duke Charles, whom Henry V. 
took prisoner at Agincourt, and whose son became 
Louis XII. The old castle of the Counts of Blois 
had been sold to the Orleans family by the last of the 
line in 1397, and the new possessors, each in his day, 
occupied themselves in restoring and embellishing it. 
So zealous indeed, in this respect, was Duke Gaston, 
that, had not fate intervened, not only the west wing 
but the entire building would have been pulled down 
to make way for his plans. Happily for posterity, 
this devastation never took place, and the Frangois 
I^*" wing, the chief treasure of the Chateau, is still 
preserved to us much as it was at the end of the 
sixteenth century, at which time Blois may be said 
to have reached the zenith of its fame in the history 
of France. The Chateau was then a royal residence, 
and the roll of its inhabitants forms a long list of 
illustrious names, foremost among which stand 
those of Catherine de Medici and Charles IX., 
Henri HI., and the King of Navarre, and the 
famous Henri de Guise, who met his death here 
through the suspicion and jealousy of the king, his 
cousin. In the Guise tragedy the chief interest of 
the Chateau appears to centre. Dark hints concern- 
ing " le Balafre " are thrown out during the progress 

[197] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

through a succession of dim, empty rooms — council 
room and bed-chamber, oratory and private closet, 
some flooded with sunshine, others 'dark with the 
strange misty curtain that age will sometimes hang 
across an old chamber, and through whose thin 
veil one seems to see the shades of those old-time 
kings and queens, walking, plotting and praying as 
they did when the Chateau was alive with the tread 
of men. All this appears to lead up to the scene 
of the Guise murder, and as the guide reaches the 
royal bed-chamber and points through a doorway 
here and down a passage there, one seems to have 
reached the heart of the tragedy. There, in the long 
council-room, the Balafre stood, warming his hands 
by the fire, when the message came that the king 
awaited him in a cabinet at the far end of the wing; 
here, in an ante-room close by, Henri III. lifted the 
curtain and watched the enemy to his death ; there in 
the dark, narrow passage — too narrow even to allow 
of his drawing sword — Guise found himself caught 
like a rat in a trap ; here, in the king's own chamber, 
he doubled back for safety, and met his death at the 
foot of the royal bed. It is all very thrilling and 
very real; and little as there is to love in Henri de 
Guise, one cannot but pity the man for the manner 
of his death ; and there seems nothing but justice in 
the murder of the king himself a short time after- 

[198] 



TOURS AND BLOIS 

wards. This second tragedy took place outside the 
old dungeon, a gloomy round tower with crosS-barred 
windows and a heavy iron door, behind which the 
Cardinal de Guise, brother of the Balafre, suffered 
imprisonment at the hands of his jealous cousin. In 
the centre of the dungeon floor is a trap door, which, 
considering the general atmosphere of the place, one 
naturally associates with an oubliette, but which more 
probably represented the head of a well, run up 
through the building in order that the inhabitants 
of the castle should not suffer from want of water 
in siege time. 

It is curious to note that the historical description 
to which the visitor listens to-day as he follows his 
guide through those empty chambers at Blois is 
almost exactly the same as that given a hundred and 
twenty years ago. Arthur Young, travelling in 
France in 1787, paid a visit to Blois, and gives the 
following account of the Chateau and its history: 
"We viewed the castle for the historical monument 
it affords that has rendered it so famous. They show 
the room where the council assembled, and the chim- 
ney in it before which the Duke of Guise was 
standing when the king's page came to demand his 
presence in the royal closet; the door he was entering 
when stabbed ; the tapestry he was in the act of turn- 
ing aside ; the tower where his brother the cardinal 

[199] 



cathedral; cities of France 

suffered, with a hole in the floor into the dungeon 
of Louis XL, of which the guide tells many- 
horrible stories, in the same tone, from having 
told them so often, in which the fellow in West- 
minster Abbey gives his monotonous history; of the 
tombs." 



[200] 



u 



CHARTRES 

*<^^"^HARTRES," says Mr. Henry James, 
" gives us an impression of extreme 
antiquity, but it is an antiquity that has 
gone down in the world." It may be 
this very Hecadence that has kept CKartres within 
itself and prevented it from growing out into a large 
pretentious city. Many other places which rival it 
in age and association have either swept away all 
traces of their antiquity, or else preserved it in dig- 
nified contrast to the modern mushroom town. 
Chartres has done neither. It is scarcely more at 
the present day than a quaint country town with a 
very old-fashioned air, a place of steep, twisting 
streets and quiet little market-squares, the cathedral 
rising like a giant from the very midst of the houses. 
Round the town runs a boulevard, known as the 
iTour-de-Ville, and interesting for the fact that it 
follows the line of the mediaeval defences — ramparts 
that kept many enemies at bay when Chartres was a 

[ 20I ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

power in the kingdom of France. Here and there 
parts of these defences are still standing, and one 
fragment in particular forms the foundations of an 
old convent. Another remnant of the old fighting 
days is the Porte Guillaume, one of the city gates, 
built when the march of the English forced every 
French town to keep itself under bolt and bar. Two 
round towers, embattled and machicolated, flank a 
low archway, and to complete the mediaeval effect, 
the ancient fosse still remains before the gate, not 
grass-grown or choked with rubbish, but filled with 
a clear stream, just as it might have been in old days. 
Autricum of the Carnutes held an important 
position in Gaul, ranking very near the great 
capital of the Senones. In pre-Christian times it 
was a famous Druidic centre; but with the 
advance of Christianity, Savinian and Potentian, the 
patron saints of Sens, extended their mission to 
Chartres, converted the inhabitants, and built their 
first church, according to tradition, upon a Druid 
grotto. Later on, the town passed into the 
possession of a line of counts, who were a very 
powerful factor in mediaeval France. The first 
Theobald or Thibaut is said to have purchased his 
domain from the sea-king Hasting, who had 
penetrated beyond the coast and colonised the 
lands around the river Eure. His son and successor, 

[ 202] 




.«c^ 




O 



O 

CO 

W 



CHARTRES 

Thibaut le Tricheur, lived in a state of constant 
war with Normandy, and seems to have been 
regarded as a kind of evil influence by the old 
Norman chroniclers, whose hero in Thibaut's day 
was naturally their own Richard the Fearless. 
Another of the line was the famous Odo, whose 
ambition went beyond his own states of Chartres and 
Blois, and aimed at kingship in Burgundy and even 
in Italy. Through the greater part of his reign he 
carried on also the struggle with Normandy which 
had raged so fiercely in Thibaut's time, besides the 
standing war with the Angevin line, represented by 
Fulk the Black. It was, as Freeman says, the fact 
of this common enemy in the house of Chartres which 
first brought Anjou and Normandy into direct con- 
tact and perhaps laid the foundations of Anjou's 
subsequent connection with England. Chartres, like 
Nevers, was made a duchy under Frangois I^""; later 
it passed into the Orleans family, whose nominal 
appanage it has remained ever since, the eldest son 
bearing to this day the title of " Due de Chartres." 
It is also interesting to notice that Henri de 
Navarre broke the long succession of coronations at 
Rheims by being crowned King of France in 
Chartres Cathedral, three years after the town had 
opened its gates to his army in 1591. Some three 
hundred years later another enemy appeared outside 

[205] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

the walls, and once again Chartres found itself in 
the hands of a foreign power. Mr. Cecil Headlam, 
in his very interesting " Story of Chartres," gives a 
description of the Prussian occupation, part of which 
may be quoted here as showing the foresight of the 
Mayor, who in this terrible time, when the whole 
French nation seemed utterly demoralised, thought 
rather of the safeguard of the city and its one great 
monument, than of the doubtful and dearly-won 
glory of a protracted defence. 

" It was on Friday, September 30, 1870, that the 
Prussian soldiers appeared for the first time near 
Chartres. Three weeks later Chateaudun fell, after 
a desperate and heroic defence, for which that 
picturesque and ancient town paid the dear price of 
failure. Two days later the enemy marched in force 
upon Chartres. The tirailleurs and mobiles and 
troops of the National Guard, who endeavoured to 
defend the town, after vain marching and counter- 
marching, with the same generous ardour and utter 
ineffectiveness as had distinguished the movements 
of the other armies before the disasters of Wissem- 
bourg. Worth and Sedan, returned exhausted. 
Without firing a shot they had been rendered in- 
capable of fighting. Fighting in any case would 
have been useless. It was wisely decided to capitu- 
late, and on the 21st the Mayor and Prefect of the 

[206] 



CHARTRES 

Department drove out to Morancez to save the city 
and Cathedral, by surrendering them to General von 
Wittich, from the inevitable destruction of vv^hich 
Chateaudun had given them a terrible example. 
What they saw on their way of the French defence 
and the Prussian advance convinced civilians and 
military men alike that it was impossible to hope to 
defend Chartres." 

At the head of the Rue St. Jean, where it leads 
into the Place du Chatelet, one obtains the first and 
best view of the two beautiful spires at the west end 
of the Cathedral. The southern tower, dating back 
to the twelfth century and conceived in a style which 
harmonises with the broad and massive design of the 
whole building, is an example of what was contem- 
plated as a finish to the other towers of the Cathedral. 
The northern tower, built in 1507 by Jean le Texier, 
well deserves its reputation as the most beautiful 
Gothic spire ever designed. " The one, fashioned 
by the Byzantine chisel, sprang into complete being 
in the heroic ages of faith in the days of war . . . 
the other rose, after a long peace, under the hands of 
the still Christian architects of the Renaissance, when 
all dangers and difficulties had been surmounted." 

On contemplating the plan on which Chartres 
Cathedral was built one is struck with the enormous 
space which has been allotted to the choir. Here 

[ 207 ]' 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

the new religious cult finds its earliest expression, 
greater provisions are made for its ceremonials, 
larger spaces are given both in choir and transepts 
for its gorgeous ritual than we find in Paris, 
Soissons or Laon. Bishops, priests, deacons, choris- 
ters and serving-men needed a wider platform for 
the ministration of the sacred rites of the Church, 
and especially to this end was the Cathedral planned 
out. It is said that its construction was carried out 
with incredible rapidity in the desire to meet the 
pressing requirements of the people, who demanded 
that the Cathedral should be not only the house of 
prayer for the bishop and his canons, but essentially 
the mother church of the humblest of her 
worshippers. 

The prevalence of a style, more or less uniform, 
with its main attributes harmonious and congruous, 
is the resultant of these forces working together. 
The completion of the Cathedral was carried out 
about 1240, and in 1250 were added the two 
porches at the entrance to the transepts. The 
sacristy was built in the thirteenth century, and a 
century later the little chapel of Saint Piat was 
attached to the eastern apse. The shortness of the 
nave is attributed to the desire to utilise the founda- 
tions of the old crypt for the choir and not to 
extend the building farther westward than the two 

[ 208 ] 





CO 

< 




CHARTRES 

existing towers. Between these two points, the walls 
of the crypt and the western towers, the nave had to 
be constructed and without any possibility of further 
extension. 

No less than nine spires were originally designed 
and their towers actually commenced. What a 
magnificent effect would have been produced had 
they been completed! Standing on the high 
ground of the city, Chartres with its clustering pin- 
nacles would have been one of the wonders of 
Christendom. The magnificent glass of the thir- 
teenth century is so deep in tone that upon entering 
the building one is conscious of a darkness that can 
almost be felt, so much at variance with the effect 
of the interior of most large French Cathedrals. 

The two porches placed outside the transept 
doors are the subject of a panegyric from the pen 
of Viollet-le-Duc. He considers them as the most 
beautiful and harmonious additions ever made to 
an existing building, and their architects proved 
themselves to be artists of the very first rank. No 
more beautiful specimen of a portal of the thir- 
teenth century can elsewhere be found to exist; 
glorious and rejoicing in colour and in gold, and of 
surpassing sculpture and full of impressive and 
solemn statuary. 

Near Chartres there are two small towns which 

[2U] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

might well be taken in a day's excursion; both are 
connected with Chartres historically and both have 
a certain interest of their own certainly not devoid' 
of attraction to one in search of antiquities. One is 
Chateaudun, whose fall during the war of 1870 was, 
as has been quoted above, the signal for the surrender 
of Chartres; the other is Vendome, the township of 
the ancient feudal county. From Chartres it is 
Chateaudun that lies first in our road. It is a 
straight, neat little town — most of the streets cut one 
another at right angles — and the smoke of the 
Franco-Prussian war still seems to hover about the 
place; one of its chief memories, indeed, is the great 
fight in October, 1870, when a bare thousand franc- 
tireurs of the national guard kept the town for half 
a day against a Prussian army of ten times their 
strength, and the quiet market-square — now called 
the Place du 18 Octobre — ^was transformed into a 
battle-field. All the heroism that the day called 
forth, however, could not save the town from being 
sacked and burnt — the last of a long series of con- 
flagrations, lasting from the sixth to the nineteenth 
century, that has won for the little town its cheerful, 
hopeful motto: " Extincta revivisco." Certainly 
Chateaudun has risen from the flames with a fresh 
lease of its quiet life, but it has been completely mod- 
ernised, and except for a few narrow alleys sloping 

[212] 



^iv: 




RUE DE LA PORTE GUILLAUME, CHARTRES 



CHARTRES 

down towards the river, which would seem to have 
escaped the general devastation, there is little that 
does not belong to to-day. This is, however, making 
an exception of the Chateau overlooking the Loire; 
a great exception, since at present all that there is to 
see in Chateaudun consists in this square pile on the 
brow of the hill ; the rest, whatever it may once have 
been, is only a memory; and even the Chateau itself 
hardly seems a part of the town, since it is not until 
we have left the little white-painted streets behind 
that we realise its existence, and then it comes as a 
gigantic surprise; a huge, square, turreted mass, on 
its platform of rock, looking away over the rolling 
meadow lands, untroubled through all the years of 
siege and conflagration. Thibaut le Tricheur, Count 
of Champagne, built it in the tenth century; it was 
rebuilt in the twelfth century, and again by its 
seigneur, the famous " Bastard of Orleans," one of 
the most devoted followers of Joan the Maid. 
Finally, under Louis XIL, Frangois d'Orleans- 
Longueville applied himself to fresh renovations, 
and built the splendid fagade overhanging the 
Loire. 

Considering that the Due de Vendome has 
always been a title of some importance in France 
since the early part of the sixteenth century, and 
the Comtes de Vendome a power in the feudal 

[215] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

world before that, one might feel rather surprised 
not to find the town itself presenting a more 
imposing aspect. Vendome is a picturesque place, 
but it is more of a long straggling village than any- 
thing else, and it is only the ivied ruins on the cliff 
that take one back — ^with a stretch of imagination, it 
must be confessed — to the days of feudalism. Ven- 
dome was originally, it is thought, a Gallic township 
under the name of Vindocinum; it was then fortified 
by the Romans, evangelised by Saint Bienheure, and 
finally became the seat of a feudal count about the 
end of the tenth century. In 1030 was founded the 
abbey of La Trinite, whose church is one of the first 
" monuments " of Vendome. It dates from the thir- 
teenth and fifteenth centuries; the beautiful Transi- 
tion fagade is well worth notice, and so is the belfry 
tower, separated from the church and tapering up to 
a tall stone spire. Inside the church there are some 
fine choir stalls of the fifteenth century, of which the 
carving of the misericordes is very interesting in its 
variety and quaintness of design. 

The Loire at Vendome divides into several small 
streams, and in walking through the town one 
appears continually to be crossing a succession of 
bridges and coming upon fresh pictures of clear 
green water fringed by low-roofed houses and dark 
lavoirs with their curtains of snowy linen. Outside 

[216] 



CHARTRES 

the town the river winds smoothly away past the cool 
quiet of the public gardens, to join its tributaries 
and cut its silver channels through the distant water- 
meadows. 

" The route lay along the plateau until the 
heights were reached which enclose the valley of 
the Loir; the road winds down to the river beside 
hanging woods, red with autumn leaves not yet 
fallen, and crowned with a ridge of firs. A corner 
is turned and Vendome comes in sight, lying beneath 
the shelter of the old ruined castle on the hill. As 
the horsemen enter the town the people all come to 
the doors of their houses and gaze with every sign 
of interested curiosity. There is an anxious expres- 
sion in their faces. They do not welcome, though 
they obey their visitors with alacrity. They bring 
forth bread and meat and wine, and lay the tables 
for breakfast, but good cheer they have none to 
give." — The Times: " Prussian Occupation of 
Vendome." 



[217I 



ORLEANS, BOURGES, AND NEVERS 



C] 



''^^J^^^HE thought that the name of the city 
itself is most likely to call up is that of 
the Maid who, born far away from 
Orleans, has taken its name as a kind 
of surname . . . We have got into a way of think- 
ing ... as if Orleans had its chief being as the 
city of the Maid." Orleans certainly does share with 
Rouen the chief honours of association with Joan of 
Arc, the " Victrix Anglorum," as she is described on 
a memorial tablet in the Cathedral, and the town is 
equally full of monuments to her memory, though 
the memory in this case is that of a great triumph, 
whereas at Rouen it marks the last stage, captivity 
and death. 

Orleans was the key of central and southern 
France, and if the English once got possession of 
it they would certain overrun all the land south of 
the Loire; hence its importance to France as a 
stronghold. Joan set out from Blois late in April, 

[218] 



ORLEANS, BOURGES, AND NEVERS 

1429, in charge of a convoy of provisions for tKe 
beleaguered city, and arrived opposite the town, on 
the left bank of the Loire. 

From November to the end of April the English 
had lain before the town, and, although the inhabi- 
tants were not actually starving, provisions were very 
scanty, and the bringing in of fresh supplies was 
practically an impossibility, since the usual means of 
approach, the bridge across the Loire, was blocked 
by the enemy, who occupied the outstanding fortress 
of Les Augustins at the bridge, and on the right bank. 
On the Orleans bank the English had built several 
strong bastilles, guarding the city and effectually 
preventing any communication by means of the west- 
ern highways. The weak spot was on the east side, 
where the besiegers had one stronghold only, the 
fortress of Saint Loup ; and from this point Dunois, 
the general-in-chief, and La Hire, the leader of 
Joan's army, intended to effect an entrance; but the 
Maid herself, with that love of directness which 
characterises her whole career, desired to attack the 
English, not at their strongest, but at their weakest 
point. Both wind and stream were against their 
ferrying over to Saint Loup; and in the end Joan's 
simple tenacity and childish belief in the counsel of 
her " voices " carried the day. The army was sent 
back to Blois, there to cross to the right bank and 

[219] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

attack Orleans from the west, and meanwhile she 
herself, the wind having turned, crossed in a boat 
by night and entered the town with La Hire and 
Dunois. She was hailed by the people of Orleans 
as an angel of deliverance, and lodged in the house 
of the treasurer Boucher, near the Porte Regnart at 
the north-west angle of the city walls ; and from this 
vantage point Joan watched the enemy's movements, 
appearing from time to time upon the ramparts and 
bidding defiance to the English, who, as was perhaps 
natural, retorted by showering insults upon her. On 
May 4 she rode out in full state to meet her army 
which had arrived from Blois. Three days later the 
great fight began. All this time the English troops 
had scarcely moved a finger to hinder the French 
operations, but when the enemy crossed the river by 
a bridge of boats and made a feint of attacking the 
fortress on the left bank, retreating apparently in 
confusion, the English sallied forth after them, thus 
provoking a real attack upon the bridge fort Dur- 
ing the fray the girl-leader was wounded; never for 
a moment did she give in, but stood in the fosse 
grasping the white banner — sword she would not 
wield — and cheering on her companions; with the 
result that by nightfall the position was gained, the 
English were driven out, and Joan returned in 
triumph into Orleans by the bridge. The greater 

[ 220] 



^^p^ 









CO 

< 

Pi 

o 



it 



; \ 



ORLEANS, BOURGES, AND NEVERS 

part of her victory was now accomplished. On the 
following 'day the French' forces marched outside 
the walls of the town to meet the English line; but 
Talbot and his men had not reckoned with what 
they, in the superstition of their time, believed to be 
" a force not of this world," and the morning light 
shone upon their helmets and spears in full retreat 
towards the north. France was saved, and a clear 
field was left for Charles the Dauphin — the gates of 
his kingdom were flung open wide, that he might 
enter in and possess it. 

But the greatness of Orleans belongs to an 
earlier day, before Joan heard the voices in the 
Domremy meadows, probably before Domremy 
ever existed. It was Attila the Hun who, in- 
directly brought the town up the ladder of fame. 
Aurelianum in the fifth century was a desirable 
stronghold, and as such, Attila spied it afar from 
his Asiatic plains, and set out to conquer, and, as 
one authority has it, to " vainly besiege " it, though 
Freeman inclines to the opinion that " the business 
of West Goth and Roman was, in the end, not to 
keep them (the Huns) out, but to drive them out." 
However that may be, Attila was eventually forced 
to give up his project, and Aurelianum emerged 
from the struggle glorious and triumphant, to be- 
come the seat and stronghold of kings, and, until its 

[ 223 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

union with Paris in 613, the capital of a separate 
kingdom. Since then it has been the scene of siege, 
martyrdom and persecution, down to the days of the 
Franco-Prussian war, when it finished an eventful 
history by a Prussian occupation in October, 1870, a 
sequel to the battles of Patay and Bonbay. 

Orleans is beautifully placed on a hillside over- 
looking the Loire. With this physical advantage, 
and its long list of historical associations, one 
cannot help feeling that it might have done better 
for itself, and have become more than just a quiet, 
unobtrusive and rather dull city, with all its 
monuments easily attainable. The Cathedral is 
an example of the last lingering phase of Gothic 
architecture, and was rebuilt, so we are told — after 
its destruction by the Huguenots — during the 
interval between 1600 and 1829. The building as a 
mass has great merit, for the architects have made an 
effort to clothe it with 'dignity, and one feels that the 
church itself is conceived in a spirit to make it, cer- 
tainly at a distance, not unworthy of the stronghold 
of Clovis and his successors. 

The train which we took from Orleans to 
Bourges was slow enough to enable us to look out, 
almost as easily as from a voiture, at the richly 
wooded country. Here and there a small pyramidal 
church tower peeps out from the trees, but, as a 

[224] 




A S 







THE HOUSE OF JACQUES CCEUR, BOURGES 



ORLEANS, BOURGES, AND NEVERS 

rule, there is little sign of life in this pleasant 
country, and even the fields and the gorse-covered 
commons are bare of sheep and cattle. This 
train-d' omnibus, in discharge of its functions as 
a mail train, distributed letter-bags at every station. 
Here were waiting young girls acting as postmis- 
tresses, many of whom had come from a consid- 
erable distance, having ridden on bicycles, bare- 
headed, in the scorching sun, along dusty roads, to 
deliver up their heavy loads and to enjoy a chat with 
the travelling postman, who was evidently welcomed 
by them as bringing all the latest bits of gossip along 
the line. 

About a mile away there is a very beautiful view 
of the town, and the general effect is a grey one. 
Roofs and houses — the latter perhaps originally built 
of yellow-white stone — have all weathered to a beau- 
tiful grey, and there is an air of mediaevalism about 
the place. Bourges, indeed, like many other towns 
in France, goes back to early days for its greatness, 
and belongs far more to the past than to the present. 
The fifteenth century saw it at the height of its fame 
as a king's residence; Charles VII., perhaps finding 
the more northerly towns too hot for him during the 
English occupation, took up his abode there and be- 
came for the time being " King of Bourges " ; and 
Louis XL founded a university in the town. 

I 227 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Here was born the famous Bourdaloue, and 
Boucher, the painter of Versailles before " le 
Deluge," Boucher who was 

" a Grasshopper, and painted — 
Rose-water Raphael — en couleur de rose. 
The crowned Caprice, whose sceptre, nowise sainted, 
Swayed the light realms of ballets and bon-mots; 
Ruled the dim boudoir's demi-jour, or drove 
Pink-ribboned flocks through some pink-flowered grove," 

and who now, his Grasshopper days ended, lies 
buried beside his mother in the Church of Saint 
Bonnet. 

Perhaps the principal interest of old Bourges 
centres in the name of Jacques Coeur, the merchant 
prince, " a Vanderbilt or a Rothschild of the 
fifteenth century," who in his days of prosperity 
built a great house on the hill-side where his native 
town stands. Coeur, we are told, founded the trade 
between France and the Levant; later he became 
Master of the Mint in Paris, and one of the Royal 
Commissioners to the Languedoc Parliament. He 
was three times sent on an embassy to foreign powers, 
notably to Pope Nicholas V. Charles VII., weak, 
unstable, and always in need of money, relied on him 
absolutely, but with the usual characteristics of a 
weak master, was one of the first to desert and despoil 

[ 228 ] 







BOURGES 



ORLEANS, BOURGES, AND NEVERS 

him of his wealth when occasion offered. The be- 
ginning of the end came through a disgraceful and 
apparently quite unfounded accusation against Cceur 
at the time of the death of the famous Agnes Sorel, 
whom he was accused of poisoning. Jacques was too 
prosperous not to have enemies, and these were, as 
usual, prompt to use every opportunity against 
him. The first steps taken, calumnies of all kind 
poured in to defame the man whom France had once 
delighted to honour, and the rest of his career is a 
strange mixture of exile, mysterious captivity, and 
equally mysterious escape, honourable reception in 
Rome, and friendship with the Pope; the last scene 
of all, perhaps the strangest and most foreign to all 
idea of a peaceful, prosperous merchant — for here 
we see him in command, not of a fleet of trading ships 
laden with merchandise, but of vessels of war sent 
against the Turks by Pope Calixtus III. Rumour 
has it that, far from dying in poverty and sorrow, 
Jacques Cceur, at the end of his life, had acquired 
greater riches than when at the zenith of his fame in 
France, but the fact remains that he died in exile, 
with a cloud over his memory which was not cleared 
away until many years after, when popular favour 
again smiled on his name, and he became, what he 
remains to this day, the citizen-hero of Bourges. 
There is a very charming description — too long to 

[231] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

quote here — in Mr. Henry James' "Little Tour in 
France" of the house of Jacques CcEur; and one 
point of interest attaching to it is that it is built upon 
the old defences of the town, and at the back are 
many considerable remains of solid Roman bastions. 
It is one of the most beautiful types of a 
fifteenth-century town-house that can possibly be 
imagined — a veritable remnant of the ancient pros- 
perity of Bourges, of a time when such houses were 
no uncommon feature in the streets — when men who 
had made their fame and fortune loved to build for 
themselves a beautiful home in their native town, 
and enrich it with every conceivable ornament. 
Modern nouveaux riches indeed do the same, though 
perhaps not in their native place, where their mem- 
ory as butcher or baker might, in their eyes, tell 
against them ; but the difference between their " man- 
sions " and the hotel of Jacques Coeur is the differ- 
ence between an age when the Renaissance was in its 
early freshness and an age when it has suffered the 
degradations of many modern horrors in the style 
that is popularly designated " handsome." No one 
looking upon the delicate sculptures, the wonderful 
wood carving, the courtyard with its cloister, the 
lovely porticos and galleries, can doubt the taste of 
the man who built and lived in this " maison pleine 
de mysteres." 

[232] 



t .r 




THE MUSEE CUJAS, BOURGES 



ORLEANS, BOURGES, AND NEVERS 

The Cathedral of Bourges, which, as Freeman 
points out, is essentially French, although at the 
head of the Aquitanian churches, is well seen in ap- 
proaching the town, where it rises above a base of 
grey tiles and warm white walls — a long flank of 
choir and nave, unbroken by transepts. The thrust 
of the heavy vaulting is stopped by a perfect forest 
of flying buttresses, between whose walls are built 
chapels, either for chantries or family monuments. 
From inside the town it is not much in evidence until 
one ascends the Rue Royale, where one comes upon 
it quite unexpectedly at the end of what Mr. Henry 
James calls a " short vague lane," somewhat in the 
same manner as one comes upon St. Paul's bursting 
into view at the top of Cheapside. 

The absence of transepts accounts naturally for the 
want of any central tower or lantern, and as there 
are no heavy transept pillars supporting the arches 
at the crossing, to intercept the view, the elevation 
of the Host is visible to every worshipper, and the 
eye travels in one sweep through nave and choir to 
the beautifully jewelled windows of rich old glass, 
ranging from the twelfth to the seventeenth century. 
The east terminal vaulting springs so low as to mask 
part of the side-lights of the apse. This is also very 
noticeable in the east end of Sens Cathedral, the 
beauty of whose windows is marred by the vaults 

[ 235 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

cutting across the heads of the lights. At Bourges, 
however, the spandril or cheek of the vault is pierced 
by a foliated light, showing a certain amount of the 
window behind, and thus taking away the appear- 
ance of depression in the low springing vaulting of 
the apse. 

It is easily recognised that in point of historical 
importance Nevers, in comparison with some of its 
neighbours, dwindles almost into insignificance, and 
to the traveller coming from Orleans and Bourges, 
fresh from the scene of the triumphs of Joan of 
Domremy, and from the seats of French kings when 
France was at the height of her power, there may be 
a slight sense of disappointment at not finding the 
same historical " lions " at Nevers. History, though 
not passing over the town entirely, has only touched 
it with a gentle hand, and Nevers, though possessed 
of plenty of material for making itself a name, has 
never really risen very far above being the capital of 
the Nivernais. It existed in Roman days under the 
Celtic name of Noviodunum; Caesar made use of it 
as a military depot in his Gallic campaign, and 
thought the town was of sufficient importance to be a 
storehouse for the imperial treasure; its countship 
dates from the tenth century, and it became the seat 
of a bishop, although later than many of the Au- 
vergne cities. Yet the counts of Nevers never made 

[236] 



w. 




THE HOTEL-DE-VILLE, NEVERS 



ORLEANS, BOURGES, AND NEVERS 

a stir in the world, as did Odo and Thibaut of Char- 
tres, or the Fulks and Geoffreys of Angers, and 
nowhere on its ecclesiastical roll do we find a name 
like Hilary of Poitiers or Martin of Tours. Despite 
these early deficiencies, however, Nevers has much to 
interest the casual visitor, and there are four prin- 
cipal attractions — the Cathedral of St. Cyr, the Ro- 
manesque church of St. Etienne, the ducal palace 
(now the Palais de Justice), and the Porte du 
Croux. 

The early church of St. Etienne, begun in 1063, 
is a fine example of a Romanesque building. It is 
also a very severe example, with a nave of round- 
headed pier arches, double-arcaded triforium and 
small clerestory lights. The bays of the nave are 
modified in the choir by the pier arches being stilted, 
by a small triple-lighted triforium, and by more 
importance being given to the clerestory windows. 
There are, also, monolithic columns and hollow- 
necked capitals, which are unusual in France. The 
church is covered by a barrel vault, the crossing of 
the transepts being crowned by a dome. Mr. Spiers, 
in his book on " Architecture East and West," says : 
" The French builders of the South of France have 
always had the credit of being the originators of the 
barrel vault, with its stone or tile roof, absolutely 
incombustible, lying direct on the vault; to them also, 

[239] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

I contend now, we owe the development of the dome, 
with its pendentives set out in a manner peculiar to 
themselves, and in no way corresponding to those 
found in the East." 

The Cathedral of St. Cyr is the only church' in 
France — ^with the exception of Besangon — ^which 
possesses an apse at both the east and west ends. St. 
Gall in Switzerland, Mittelzall, Laack and many 
other German churches show this remarkable plan 
of a western tribune or paradise. In some instances 
it was used as a tomb-house, with entrance from with- 
out by means of a staircase. In the old basilicas, 
however, the tribune was not unfrequently at the 
west end, so that the officiating priest could at the 
same time face the east and also his congregation. 
The crypt at the west end, with its fine Romanesque 
capitals, is very interesting, and dates from the early 
part of the eleventh century, being about contem- 
porary with that of the Cathedral of Auxerre. The 
original church, with its two transept arches of the 
same date, was lengthened eastwards in the thirteenth 
century, and later on had the further addition made 
of a choir with an apsidal termination; the chancel 
and nave are not separated by transepts, but the two 
merge quietly into each other by simple contact. 

One afternoon, while contemplating this strange 
church, our attention was diverted from arch and 

[ 240 ] 





PORTE DU CROUX, NEVERS 



ORLEANS, BOURGES, AND NEVERS 

apse by the rustle of a small bridal procession enter- 
ing by a side door and being received by a priest who 
was waiting at an altar in one of the chapels. After 
some formalities of examining the certificate of civil 
registry, the ceremony began; and it was very inter- 
esting in its brevity and friendliness. In the English 
church the priest addresses the principals, with a 
kind of austere familiarity, by their Christian names, 
be they princes or paupers. But here such a liberty 
is rendered impossible by the natural social polite- 
ness of the French, and the contracting parties are 
reminded of their marriage obligations under the 
courteous appellations of Monsieur and Mademoi- 
selle. 

The ducal palace is quite close to the Cathedral. 
" We find," Freeman says, " the two great central 
objects, State and Church, sitting becomingly side 
by side." The ducal days of Nevers date only from 
the end of the sixteenth century, when Frangois 1% 
with his usual love of display, bestowed a peerage 
upon the Nivernais. Before this its feudal over- 
lords went by the more mediaeval title of count, and 
the palace (built a century before the count became 
a duke) has reared itself upon the foundation of their 
ancient stronghold. The fourth attraction of Nevers, 
the high square gateway tower known as the Porte 
du Croux, may also be regarded as a relic of feudal 

[243] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

days, seeing that it dates from 1398, and was evi- 
dently part of the town's defences. It is a noble 
specimen of mediaeval defence, a tall gateway tower, 
protected, like the Porte Guillaume at Chartres, by 
its ancient fosse — long lancet openings running up 
above a low round archway and two pointed turrets 
flanking the hatchet-shaped central roof, with the 
treacherous line of machicolation below. In the 
middle of the sixteenth century Nevers passed to an 
Italian master, one of the Gonzagas of Mantua, from 
whom, a hundred years later, Mazarin bought it 
back again, and left it at his death to the Mancini 
family, who held it until the Revolution. 

Most French towns nowadays fill their shops with 
a display of local pottery, good, bad and indifferent; 
the industry of Nevers, however, is an old-established 
one, dating from the occupation of these very Gon- 
zagas, who came from a land where the faience in- 
dustry, as well as glass-blowing, was fully developed 
as a fine art, and who founded in their domain a 
school of artists which should teach their secrets to 
France. The industry has remained in the town ever 
since, and some of the modern work is very charm- 
ing, with its curious trade-sign, the little green ara- 
besque knot or nceud vert, which some fanciful spirit 
designed for the sign of Nevers. 

[244] 



MOULINS, LIMOGES, AND PERIGUEUX 



fi 



'ROM Nevers an expedition to Moullns is 
quite practicable, and the traveller en 
route to Limoges may think it worth his 
while to pay a visit to this town, which 
stands as a monument to the fallen house of Bourbon. 
In the fourteenth century the dukes of Bourbon made 
Moulins their residence, and stayed there until the 
desertion of the Constable to the cause of Charles V., 
when the city was annexed by the French king, 
Frangois 1% in an access of righteous indignation. 
The " Tour de I'Horloge," which is the main feature 
of the town, and looks more like a Dutch belfry than 
a French design, formed part of the old chateau be- 
longing to this same Constable; and it may be sup- 
posed that not only were his lands confiscated, but his 
castle destroyed, by way of punishment for his alli- 
ance with the English king and the German emperor. 
The story of this Constable de Bourbon is an 
interesting one. He belonged to the Montpensier 

[ 245 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

branch of the Bourbon family, and in 1505 married 
Suzanne de Beaujeu, heiress of the reigning line, so 
that the title of duke and the rich Bourbon estates 
passed into his possession, and therewith Charles 
became one of the most brilliant figures in an age of 
brilliancy and magnificence. His handsome person 
and military talents had even in early youth gained 
him a place amongst the foremost gentlemen of 
France ; but his marriage brought him such an access 
of wealth and influence that even Louis XII. trem- 
bled for the safety of his throne, and refused to risk 
any increase in his popularity by giving him com- 
mand of the Italian army. In 15 15, however, when 
the Due d'Angouleme came to the throne as Francois 
1% Bourbon was made Constable of France, and for 
a time seemed to have attained to all that Fortune 
could give him. He was the close friend of the king, 
and in an era of lavish display that came with the 
first Frangois, and did not wholly disappear until it 
was swept away by the hand of the Revolution, no 
favours seemed too great, no honours too high, for the 
brilliant and much-envied favourite. To such a 
height did Charles de Bourbon reach, that one can, 
indeed, hardly wonder at his fall, which was bound 
to come sooner or later, and when it did come was all 
the greater, all the swifter, from the very might of his 
power at court. The mischief arose in the first place 

[246] 



MOULINS, LIMOGES, AND PERIGUEUX 

through the jealousy of the king's mother — reports 
and scandals were in the air, and Frangois was not 
slow to take note of them — and of the growing dis- 
trust of his favourite at court. Quarrels arose be- 
tween King and Constable. Presently the evil re- 
ports took definite shape, and grew into the grossest 
of insults ; and as soon as it was seen that Bourbon had 
lost the King's favour all tongues were loosened 
against him. Added to these troubles, he was en- 
gaged in a lawsuit with the mother of Frangois, the 
Duchess d'Angouleme, who on the death of his wife 
Suzanne claimed the heirship to all his estates and 
fortune. As may be imagined, on the principle of 
striking a fallen man, the case went against him, and 
the great duke found himself friendless and penni- 
less, with large sums owing to him from the State, 
but with little hope of payment. Men in those days 
were not over-chivalrous, and the idea of clinging 
still to an ungrateful, ungenerous sovereign who had 
cast him off like an old glove did not commend itself 
to a nature like that of Charles de Montpensier. He 
resolved, since France would have none of him, to 
try his fortune with Germany, and accordingly 
joined the cause of Charles V., to whom for a time 
he gave his best service, and then, finding the im- 
perial promises, too, like the proverbial pie-crust, 
determined to carve out honours for himself and 

[ 247 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

find a kingdom in Italy. He marched to Rome witH 
a division under his command, and made a bold 
attack upon the city walls, but an arrow from the 
ramparts, shot, so one story goes, by Benvenuto 
Cellini, the famous sculptor and court musician to 
the Pope, put an end to his ambition, and the Con- 
stable died in harness outside the walls of Rome at 
the very outset of his gallant attempt to cast off the 
yoke of kings and make his fortune by his own sword. 

Of Bourbon's chateau there remains only the 
tower bearing the curious name of the Mal-Coiffee, 
and a Renaissance pavilion — an appendage found 
in the castle of every great noble of this time. 

In the eleventh century Moulins was one of the 
more southerly fortresses to hold out against 
William of Normandy. It had been commanded 
by a certain Wimund, who surrendered it to Henry, 
the French king. As an important outpost it was 
garrisoned strongly and put under the command 
of Guy of Geoffrey, Count of Gascony, presently 
to become William VIII. of Aquitaine. The 
Norman duke, however, was advancing upon 
Arques, which was within an ace of surrender 
from hunger, and with little difficulty he obtained 
terms from the garrison. News of this defeat 
soon flew to Moulins, and its commander seems to 
have been instantly seized with an access either of 

[248] 




,„ *,^.c..*».***iBWW<»«i»*-*- 



MOULINS 



MOULINS, LIMOGES, AND PERIGUEUX 

panic or of prejudice — the two bore a curious 
relation in those days — and without giving the 
Normans time so much as to come within sight of 
the town, he withdrew his garrison and left Moulins 
with all speed. 

The Cathedral at Moulins has a curious misfit 
of nave and chancel. The former is of the 
thirteenth century, with a high clerestory and 
rather low triforium arches; the latter is Flam- 
boyant, with a flat wall termination to the east end, 
and seems to have been built without any regard to 
the pre-existing nave ; at any rate, the main piers do 
not meet, and a small bay of no particular style is 
introduced literally as a stop-gap. 

An excellent hotel — the " Central " — makes 
Limoges a convenient stopping-place on the 
southern road, irrespective of its attractions to 
those interested in faience and enamel work; but 
there are plenty of other interests within the town, 
and Limoges may, indeed, speak for itself in this 
respect, by reason of its standing on a hill, over- 
looking a river, and containing, in the old quarter 
at least, ancient houses and crooked streets enough 
to satisfy any craving for the picturesque. The 
town slopes up a hill rising from the Vienne, and 
really divides into two distinct parts, ville and 
cite; the ville is the newer town straggling up the 

[251] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

slope, while the cite, the original camping-ground 
of the Lemovices, occupies the quarter near the river. 
So distinct were these two in the Middle Ages that 
we even read of war between them as between two 
separate states, the ville led by the abbot of Saint 
Martial, the cite by the bishop. The great church of 
the river quarter is the Cathedral of Saint Etienne, 
built, so tradition has it, upon the remains of a for- 
mer church erected by Saint Martial, and dating 
from 1273- 1327, with a few later alterations. The 
west end terminates in the substructure of an old 
Romanesque campanile, resting on pillars. " The 
lowest story," says Freeman, " after a fashion rare 
but not unique, stood open. Four large columns 
with their round arches supported a kind of cupola." 
Under the choir is a crypt, dating from the eleventh 
century, and thus at each end of the later church is 
a relic of an older time. 

Limoges had formerly been favourable to the 
English, but since the dukes of Berri and Bour- 
bon had laid siege to the town, and had been aided 
by Bertrand du Guesclin, the inhabitants, including 
the bishop and the governor, gave up their some- 
what wavering allegiance and turned to France. On 
hearing of this (defection the Prince of Wales flew 
into a great passion and " swore by the soul of his 
father, which he had never perjured, that he would 

[252] 



MOULINS, LIMOGES, AND PERIGUEUX 

not attend to anything before he had punished 
Limoges; and that he would make the inhabitants 
pay dearly for their treachery." [The price they had 
to give was the safety of their city. Edward marched 
upon Limoges from Cognac with a large force; but 
the new masters had garrisoned the town so 
strongly that it was impossible to take it by 
assault. He therefore resolved upon another and 
a more terrible way. He undermined the fortifi- 
cations, and set fire to the mine, so that a great 
breach was made. Froissart describes the inhabi- 
tants of the town as very repentant of their 
treachery, but adds poignantly that their penitence 
did little good, now that they were no longer the 
masters; and certainly it was not rewarded by 
mercy. The English troops rushed into the breach 
and poured down the narrow streets, massacring 
right and left, plundering and burning, sparing 
neither women nor children; and when the Prince 
at last turned back to Cognac, he left behind him 
ruin and desolation where, a few days before, had 
been strength and prosperity. During this terrible 
time the Church of Saint Etienne happily escaped 
from damage, although all the rest of the old town 
— "old" even in 1370— seems to have been de- 
stroyed. An interesting reminder of more modern 
history remains in the name of one of the streets. 

[253] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

The Cathedral is connected with the Place Jourdan 
by the " Rue du 71'^°^" Mobiles "; and this street is so 
named in recognition of the valour shown by this 
regiment in the field, and in the memory of those 
killed during the Prussian war. It is an assurance 
that their heroism and endurance in a hopeless strug- 
gle are not forgotten, and that an equal devotion to 
their country will be shown, should the need arise, 
by succeeding generations of their fellow-citizens. 
Monuments are not readily subscribed for, nor are 
places where they may be erected easily found. A 
permanent testimony to the gallant services of a regi- 
ment might be borne by calling a street after its name. 
London accorded a great welcome to its volunteers 
at the termination of the Boer war. Is there any 
street or place called after the name of the City 
Imperial Volunteers? 

In a cathedral city like Limoges, where the 
church itself has a good deal of interest and the town 
is not devoid of attraction, one is not readily in- 
clined to place its industrial interests very high on 
the list of things to be seen ; yet the fact remains that 
in this particular place the chief industry is closely 
bound up with the town's history. The Limoges 
school of enamel workers had attained celebrity as 
early as the twelfth century, when the champ-leve, or 
engraving process, was in vogue, the ground-work of 

[ 254 ] 




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MOULINS, LIMOGES, AND PERIGUEUX 

the plates consisting of graven copper and the cavi- 
ties filled in with enamel. This kind of v^ork may 
well be seen in Westminster Abbey upon the tomb of 
Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. In the four- 
teenth century France borrowed from Italy the art 
of transparent enamelling, which the artists at 
Limoges developed into enamel-painting, and this 
branch was carried on at Limoges for upwards of 
two centuries, until it fell into decay under Louis 
XIV. and gave place to the modern miniature style. 
Under Francois P"" this art of enamel-painting 
attained to a high 'degree of perfection. The 
sixteenth-century taste inclined always towards the 
brilliant and magnificent, and the same love of 
display and richness which showed both in dress and 
in architecture found also expression in the art of 
enamelling. One of the most famous artists of this 
school came from Limoges, whence he was known as 
Leonard Limousin. His work became the pattern 
of excellence after which all lesser artists strove. 
" While some of the works were executed in brilliant 
colours, most of them were in monochrome. The 
background was generally dark, either black or 
deep purple, and the design was painted en grisaille, 
relieved, in the case of figure subjects, by delicate 
carnation. The effect was occasionally heightened 
by appropriate touches of gold, and in many of the 

[257] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

coloured enamels brilliancy was obtained by the use 
of silver foil, or paillon, placed beneath a transparent 
enamel." 

At Perigueux we seem to have left Northern 
France in the far distance and to have taken the 
first definite step into the Midi. The architectural 
pilgrim as he wanders southward is conscious of 
the existence of two distinct styles, possessing 
features dissimilar in construction and design; in 
one case he finds barrel-vaulted churches, in another 
large churches roofed with pointed domes, whose 
origin it is difficult to determine. Of the latter type 
the church of Saint Front is a notable instance. It 
rises above the old quarter, which occupies the centre 
of the town, the modern portion, quite distinct from 
the rest, as was the case at Limoges, sloping up the 
hill, and the remnant of the old Roman city fronting 
the river. The original Vesunna of the Petrocorii 
stood on the left bank of the Isle; the Roman 
Vesunna crossed to the other side, and is now repre- 
sented by the ruins of an amphitheatre, dating from 
the third century, and some second-century baths. 
The old Chateau Barriere is also built on Roman 
fortifications, and two of the Roman towers still 
remain, besides the " Tour de Vesone," which was 
probably part of a pagan temple. 

It is a curious fact that here the ancient remains 

[258] 





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MOULINS, LIMOGES, AND PERIGUEUX 

of the Roman city should be so much more promi- 
nent than is usually the case. At Bourges we saw 
the house of Jacques Coeur built upon a Roman 
foundation, and many other places keep, in part at 
least, their Roman walls ; but Perigueux has Roman 
remains which absorb quite half the interest aroused 
by the city on the Isle — the other half being devoted 
to the church. From the site of the Gallic Vesunna, 
on the left side of the river, the Tour de Vesone is 
the foremost object, so old that, as Freeman says, it 
looks almost modern. " It is a singular fact that, 
while a mediaeval building can scarcely ever be taken 
for anything modern, buildings of earlier date often 
may. The primeval walls of Alatri might at a little 
distance be taken for a modern prison, and this huge 
round, it must be confessed, has to some not undis- 
cerning eyes suggested the thought of a modern gas- 
works." Then the partly mediaeval Chateau 
Barriere attracts notice, dating at its latest from the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and by its name re- 
calling one of the noblest families of mediaeval 
Perigord. 

With the rise of the abbey of Saint Front, a new 
town arose also, and the old quarter shrank up within 
itself, remaining still the abode of the nobles and 
gentlemen and the clergy of Saint Etienne, but yield- 
ing the real precedence to the vigorous new puy 

[261] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

higher up the hill. " Here, as in some measure at 
Limoges, the tables are turned. The ville stands 
apart on the hill, with the air of the original cite, 
while the real cite abides below, putting on some- 
what the look of a suburb." Even Saint Etienne, the 
old Cathedral-church of La Cite, has, owing to its 
partially ruined condition, practically renounced its 
importance both in intrinsic position and in external 
appearance. The great tower, which once stood at 
the west end, has gone entirely; the cupolas which 
crown each bay show the relation to those at Saint 
Front, and in place of the eleventh-century apse 
stands a flat wall^ terminating in a choir of a century 
later. 

The church of St. Front is " the only domed 
church in France with the Greek cross for its plan." 
The original building is said to have been conse- 
crated in 1047 by the Archbishop of Bourges and 
burnt down in a great fire in 11 20. It was not until 
after this date that the five-domed church and the 
tower on the west side were constructed. " By this 
time the Church of Saint Mark at Venice was com- 
pleted, as far as its main structure was concerned, 
and already the panelling of the walls with 
marble and the decoration of its vaults and arches 
with mosaic had made some progress. It was one of 
the wonders of Europe, and the idea of copying its 

[262] 




o 

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MOULINS, LIMOGES, AND PERIGUEUX 

plan and general design would appeal at once to a 
race of builders who for more than a century, as I 
shall prove later on, had been building domed 
churches throughout Aquitaine, who were perfectly 
acquainted with their own methods of building 
domes and pendentives, and therefore would not be 
obliged to trust to foreign workmen to execute 
them."— Mr. R. Phene Spiers. 

It would be quite out of our province to follow 
out Mr. Spiers' arguments in support of this theory, 
as it would lead us into the entangled byways of a 
discourse on methods of " bedding " and centring 
arches and pendentives. Suffice it to say that he 
clearly points out the difference which exists between 
French and Byzantine domes, capitals and voussoirs 
and the prevalence of the Aquitaine style, and on this 
evidence maintains that French, and not Greek or 
Venetian architects, built the abbey church of Saint 
Front. This conclusion is also supported by Viollet- 
le-Duc, who expresses his opinion that Saint Front 
was undoubtedly built by a Frenchman who had 
studied either the actual Church of Saint Mark at 
Venice or who had had opportunities of seeing the 
design of the Venetian architects. Its general con- 
ception, it is true, was Venetian and quasi-Oriental, 
but its construction and details do not recall in any 
way the decorative sculpture or method of building 

[265] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

which obtained at St. Mark's at Venice. As to the 
ornament, it belongs to the late Romanesque style. 

Saint Front must indeed have appeared a strange 
erection and unique in conception amongst its 
sister churches, and no doubt exercised a great 
influence over the builders of churches north of the 
Garonne in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The 
infusion of Oriental art into this part of the country 
is explained by the distinguished French archaeolo- 
gist, M. Felix de Verheilh, as partly due to the pres- 
ence of Venetian colonies established at Limoges. 
He says that the commerce of the Levant was carried 
into France and into England along trade routes 
existing between Marseilles or Narbonne and La 
Rochelle or Mantes. The landing of Eastern 
produce at these ports on the Mediterranean and its 
carriage overland to the north-western seaboard of 
France was rendered necessary to protect it from the 
Spanish and Arab pirates who infested the coasts of 
Spain and Africa, and also to avoid the risk of storms 
and heavy seas of the Straits of Gibraltar. 



[ 266 ] 



(H^nptn ^ttntttm 




ANGOULEME AND POITIERS 

NGOULEME has at a distance more the 
appearance of an Italian than of a French 
town. The heavy red pantiles, the cam- 
panile and dome of the Cathedral, the 
little terraces sloping up the hill, all recall the south- 
ern towns; but the river with its fringing poplars 
finally proclaims the city's nationality. There is 
nothing of especial interest to be seen in the town 
itself. Angouleme — Ecolisma of the Gauls — has of 
course had its history; it suffered pillage by Visigoth 
and Norman, was annexed by England, re-taken by 
France, occupied again by the English, and finally 
made over to its rightful sovereign in 1369. 

During the Hundred Years' War Angouleme 
was in the possession of the English, and under 
the governorship of Sir John Norwich surrendered 
to France. The Duke of Normandy lay, we are 
told, " for a very considerable time " before the town, 
and the inhabitants waited daily for the Earl of 

[267] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Derby, who was to relieve them, but who showed no 
signs of approach. The French made a raid upon 
the English cattle under the guidance of the 
seneschal of Beaucaire and captured not merely the 
beasts, who — strange laxity — were pasturing outside 
the walls of the town, but several of the English who 
rushed out to recover their possessions. Finally the 
governor began to lose hope; Derby was nowhere 
within reach, the French gave no signs of with- 
drawal, and worse than all, the townsfolk began to 
murmur and to declare as far as they dared for the 
enemy. Norwich and his immediate followers 
found themselves in some danger; but by a clever 
stratagem they escaped from surrendering themselves 
to Normandy. A truce was called, and under cover 
of this the governor and his friends sallied quietly 
forth from the gates, passed through the entire 
French army, without hurt, and took the road to 
Aiguillon before the enemy had realised what they 
were about. Meanwhile the disaffected within the 
town readily gave themselves up to the Duke, and 
received his mercy. 

Here, however, as at Nevers, an up-and-down his- 
tory has left little mark upon the town, and Free- 
man's criticism is no more than the truth : " Except 
we went on purpose for the view, we should hardly 
go to Angouleme at all." Saint Pierre at Angou- 

[268] 



ANGOULEME AND POITIERS 

leme is another example of the domed church that 
we left at Perigueux; but while the cupolas carry on 
the same half-Byzantine idea as prevails in Saint 
Front, the tower at the north transept brings in a 
train of thought which is distinctly Italian; more- 
over, at Perigueux all five cupolas are well seen 
from the outside, whereas here only one appears, to 
balance, or rather to contrast with, the north 
tower. Once inside the church, however, the 
other domes appear, roofing over the nave, which is 
without aisles, after the manner of the Angevin 
churches. In its original form the Cathedral of 
Saint Pierre was begun early in the twelfth 
century — about 1120 — but it has been twice 
restored, once in 1654 ^^^ once, in the middle of the 
last century, by M. Abadie. 

It was planned simply with a nave roofed by four 
cupolas and a choir with four radiating apsidal 
chapels. Later on in the century the love of build- 
ing places of worship larger and more suited to the 
growing desire for an enriched ceremonial and 
elaborate ritual resulted in the addition of transepts 
surmounted by towers, which gave to the Cathedral 
of Saint Pierre at Angouleme the distinction of being 
one of the first, if not the first, of domed churches 
built on the plan of a Latin cross. Of the two towers 
only one, the northern tower, exists to this day, the 

[269] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

southern transept being roofed by a flat conical dome. 
Certain further additions were made about the same 
time, such as the western facade with its sculptured 
portal. The black lines of the ashlar work, as if 
ruled with a lead pencil, detract very much from the 
impressiveness of the interior, as they give undue 
emphasis to the horizontal joints and arrest the eye 
in its first natural flight from floor to vault. 

Saint Pierre at Poitiers is a church of a very 
different description. Certain characteristics it 
has which connect it with the Angevin style, but 
unlike most of the Angevin churches, it has aisles 
throughout. From the outside the appearance is 
that of a single mass, long and low, and very wide, 
for the aisles are nearly as broad as the nave; as at 
Bourges, there is no central tower at the crossing; but 
then at Bourges we have a great French church, a 
mighty mass rising sheer up from the ground, un- 
broken by any transept; here at Poitiers there are 
transepts, but the line of their towers comes below the 
line of the roof, and the effect given is one of length 
without height. Height is also wanting in the two 
unfinished and unequal west towers, and the east end 
literally falls flat, by reason of its bare terminal wall ; 
the apse, to which one grows so accustomed in a 
French church, is seen only from the interior. It is 
oblong in plan, showing, as M. VioUet-le-Duc points 

[ 270 ] 





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ANGOULEME AND POITIERS 

out, no sign either of choir or sanctuary. The tran- 
septs are more like side chapels with altars on their 
eastern walls. There is no sign of northern influ- 
ence, and the church is in many of its features unique 
and without imitators. Certain details of construc- 
tion bring it into line with St. Maurice at Angers; 
it is an ordinary example of the churches of Poitou, 
with their three naves of equal height and Byzantine 
cupolas. 

To the south of the Cathedral lies what alone 
would make Poitiers worth a visit, without the other 
churches which call for notice — the little Temple 
Saint-Jean, said to be the oldest baptistery in France, 
and dating probably from the fourth century. Once 
inside, we can realise the position of the officiating 
priest and the place occupied by the rooms where 
the converts disrobed themselves and whence they 
were conducted to the central basin, fed by a con- 
tinual stream of water, where stood the bishop, the 
typical representative of the first Baptist. Freeman 
says : " It is the one monument of the earliest 
Christian times which lived on, so to speak, in its own 
person, and is not simply represented by a later build- 
ing on the same site. It is the truest monument of 
Hilary." 

The name of Poitiers churches really is legion, but 
there are two more which should not be passed over 

[273] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

— first, Notre-Dame-la-Grande, a beautiful Roman- 
esque church standing in the market-place, with a 
long barrel-vault roof, unbroken by transepts, and 
terminated by towers ornamented with " fish-scale " 
pattern; next the church of Sainte Radegonde, the 
queen-saint of the sixtK century, wife to the first 
Chlothar. She lived among the nuns of her own 
foundation of the Sainte Croix, and lies buried in 
the crypt of her church, which contains also a marble 
statue, erected indeed to her memory, but in the like- 
ness of another queen who had few pretensions to 
saintliness — Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV. 

Fortunatus also became a monk of Poitiers, that 
he might at least have the satisfaction of living near 
this queen, whom he worshipped. 

The nuns of Sainte Croix went to England and 
founded there a sisterhood on the Green Croft near 
Cambridge, and this priory remained until the end 
of the fifteenth century, when the foundation was 
suppressed by Bishop Alcock, and became part of 
the corporation of Jesus College. 

It is with a certain feeling of apology toward 
tradition and childish days that one leaves to the 
very last the mention of the Black Prince's great 
fight. Not until we have reached fairly mature 
years do we realise that Poitiers has a cathedral and 
a baptistery and many churches; but there are 

[274] 




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ANGOULEME AND POITIERS 

very few of us who do not associate with the 
earliest days of history books the name of the " Battle 
of Poitiers, 1356." More properly it is the Battle of 
Maupertuis, and Freeman indeed denies its right to 
" come into the immediate story of the city." 

A short account may not be out of place Here, 
however, since the battle, whether in or out of 
Poitiers, does, nevertheless, stand out as a landmark 
in the long struggle between English and French. 
Having stormed and taken the Castle of Pomerantin, 
Prince Edward marched downwards through Anjou 
and Touraine; and from the scarcity of fodder on 
the way he began to conclude that the French king 
could not be far off. Arrived at a village near 
Chauvigny, on the Vienne, he engaged in a skirmish 
with some of the enemy, and learned that John's 
army had marched forward towards Poitiers ; there- 
fore, forbidding any further engagement, he pushed 
on with all possible speed, and came up with the 
French some leagues from the town, on the plains 
of Maupertuis. The French king himself was just 
about to enter Poitiers, but hearing that the English 
had come up and were attacking his rear-guard, he 
turned back into the fields and there encamped his 
forces. Meanwhile the English entrenched them- 
selves in a well-guarded position between hedges and 
vineyards, and waited there until the morning, when 

[277] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

John's army rode out into the plain. " Then might 
be seen all the nobility of France, richly dressed out 
in brilliant armour, with banners and pennons gal- 
lantly displayed; for all the flower of the French 
nobility were there; no knight or squire, for fear of 
dishonour, dared remain at home." At the last 
moment an attempt at mediation was made by the 
Cardinal de Perigord ; but as the French king would 
listen to no terms save unconditional surrender, 
which the English prince refused, his labour was in 
vain; and the following day the armies drew up in 
line of battle. "When the Prince of Wales saw, 
from the departure of the Cardinal without being 
able to obtain any honourable terms, that a battle was 
inevitable, and that the King of France held both 
him and his army in great contempt, he thus 
addressed himself to them: 'Now, my gallant 
fellows, what though we be a small company as in 
regard to the puissance of our enemy, let us 
not be cast down therefore, for victory lieth not in 
the multitude of people, but where God will send it; 
if it fortune that the journey be ours, we shall be the 
most honoured people of all the world; and if we 
die in our right quarrel, I have the king, my father, 
and brethren, and also ye have good friends and kins- 
men; these shall avenge us. Therefore, for God's 
sake, I require you to do your devoirs this day, for 

[278] 



ANGOULEME AND POITIERS 

if God be pleased and Saint George, this day ye shall 
see me a good knight.' " Then the battle began in 
earnest, the English shouting " Saint George for 
Guienne ! " The French answering with " Montjoie 
Saint Denis!" Froissart gives a very long and de- 
tailed account of the fight in all its part, with lists 
of the nobles and knights who were killed and 
wounded, and in many cases stories of their several 
adventures — none of which have place here. It will 
be enough to say with the old chronicler himself, 
that, in spite of the odds against the Black Prince, 
" it often happens that fortune in love and war turns 
out more favourable and wonderful than could have 
been hoped for or expected. To say the truth, this 
battle which was fought near Poitiers, in the Plains 
of Beauvois and Maupertuis, was very bloody and 
perilous; many gallant deeds of arms were per- 
formed that were never known, and the combatants 
on each side suffered much." The rest is known to 
every one, the taking of King John of France, the 
gallant work of the archers, and the commendation 
of the Prince by his father, who had watched the 
fight from afar. 

Even without the battle the story of Poitiers is a 
sufficiently varied one, and connected in a great 
measure with the story of England, if it be remem- 
bered that Eleanor, wife of our Henry IL, was also 

[ 279 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Countess of Poitou and brought it to England as 
part of her 'dowry; and in English hands it remained 
until Philip Augustus saw fit to confiscate all our 
French territory in 1204. After the peace of 
Bretigny Poitou passed to England once more, only 
to be surrendered to Bertrand du Guesclin in the 
course of the next ten years. Here at Poitiers 
Charles VII. was proclaimed King of France; and, 
in contrast, it is likewise interesting to note that here 
also was held a court of inquiry upon the misde- 
meanours of Joan of Arc, by whose aid Charles was 
not only proclaimed but crowned King. After this 
the English prestige in France dwindled to nothing, 
and therefore the joint history stops at this point, and 
the history of Poitou and Poitiers stands for France 
alone. 



[280] 



LA ROCHELLE AND BORDEAUX 

nA ROCHELLE calls to mind two things 
principally: first, the great resistance of 
the Huguenots in the sixteenth century, 
and then the siege and the expeditions 
under Buckingham in the early days of Charles I. 
These two events are really part of the same struggle 
for supremacy between Calvinist and Romanist, only 
divided by a period of quiescence under the rule of 
Henri de Navarre, who, having professed both 
faiths in his day, probably knew how to keep the 
two parties at peace. Before the religious wars 
La Rochelle was known as a flourishing and peace- 
ful seaport town; but no sooner had Conde and 
Coligny shown their faces there in 1568 as leaders 
of the Huguenot faction, than a spirit of warfare, 
provocative as well as defensive, seemed to pervade 
the town, and even on the high seas the cruisers of 
La Rochelle were a terror to the Romanist, since in 
the cause of the true faith no Huguenot stopped at 

[281] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

piracy and plunder. From this first struggle La 
Rochelle emerged with flying colours, but in the 
days of Richelieu and Buckingham it was less suc- 
cessful, and traces of its surrender exist to-day in the 
mole, cutting off the outer harbour, which Richelieu 
laid down to prevent the English fleet from gaining 
further entrance to the port. 

The first attack on Buckingham's part was made in 
the summer of 1627. A war with France, impending 
only in 1625, but swift to take definite shape, was 
among the inconvenient legacies bequeathed by 
James I. to his son. With the utmost difficulty a 
forced loan was obtained from Parliament in order 
to meet the war expenses, and the Duke of Bucking- 
ham was put in command of the fleet which sailed 
from Portsmouth in June to the relief of the Hugue- 
nots whom Richelieu was besieging in La Rochelle. 
This task was not an easy one. Before gaining the 
harbour the fleet must pass the fort of Saint Martin 
on the island of Re. This island had been strongly 
garrisoned by Richelieu, but the English squadron 
lay between the fort and the mainland, cutting off all 
possibility of relief; and after being blockaded for 
nearly two months the French commander signified 
to Buckingham his willingness to surrender the next 
morning. The duke was in the highest spirits when 
the welcome news arrived, and lay down to rest that 

[ 282 ] 



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LA ROCHELLE AND BORDEAUX 

night with the joyful certainly of carrying all before 
him, driving the Cardinal from before the port and 
entering La Rochelle in triumph. But the morning 
broke on a very different picture. During the 
night an easterly gale had sprung up and had blown 
a fleet of French provision boats over to Re, through 
the very midst of the English ships; and once more 
Saint Martin's prepared for defence. Nothing 
daunted, Buckingham sent to England for fresh 
troops, and if the supply had depended upon the king 
he might still have gained his victory; but the Par- 
liament, now a growing power in England, and a 
power whose growth was making itself felt, over- 
ruled the royal pleasure, and found here the long- 
wished for opportunity of crushing out the war, of 
which the country was heartily tired, by refusing to 
grant further supplies. Probably the fact that 
Buckingham was no favourite with the people also 
helped to turn the scale against him. At any rate 
a French force came up before any word was sent 
from England, and the duke was obliged to withdraw 
from La Rochelle with considerable losses. The 
sequel is well known. In the following year Charles 
prorogued his troublesome Parliament, and once 
more the favourite set off for Portsmouth, never to 
reach France, since the dagger of John Felton put 
an end to his ambitions and avenged, so said the 

[285] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

English people, his country's wrongs. Thus La Ro- 
chelle was left entirely to the tender mercies of 
Richelieu. The Huguenot power was utterly 
broken by the year's siege which followed, and La 
Rochelle found itself despoiled of the prestige 
which it enjoyed as the stronghold of the Protestant 
faith. 

La Rochelle of to-day is perhaps little known to 
the casual traveller. Inland France has so many at- 
tractions that most travellers never get so far as the 
sea-coast; great churches and great rivers draw them 
elsewhere, and if- they want sea breezes there is al- 
ways Trouville or Etretat ready to hand. Neverthe- 
less, La Rochelle is one of the most beautiful of sea- 
ports in France; and this is no faint praise, for all 
towns of this kind are bound to have a peculiar charm 
of their own — that kind of charm which belongs to 
a harbour, and the coming and going of ships, and 
the open sea beyond. To this the town adds certain 
attractions of its own, among which are the beautiful 
colours of the boat-sails, and the old grey forts guard- 
ing the harbour on either side. These ancient senti- 
nel towers are relics of the prosperity of La Rochelle, 
and date back to a day before Buckingham sailed up 
to the port, before the name of Huguenot had ever 
been heard in France. On the left hand the Tour 
Saint-Nicolas, built at the end of the fourteenth cen- 

[ 286 ] 




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LA ROCHELLE AND BORDEAUX 

tury, raises four round crenellated turrets above the 
harbour; on the other side stands the Tour de la 
Chaine, a grim, solid-looking round fortress; and 
farther on still may be seen the stone fleche of the 
Tour de la Lanterne, looking from a distance like 
the spire of a church. And the mention of churches 
brings us naturally to the Cathedral, which, built in 
the middle of the eighteenth century, has so very 
little to say for itself that one cannot help feeling it 
to be a poor set-off to the sea-board of the town; 
though perhaps it might in any case be useless to look 
for beauty of this kind in a town whose inhabitants 
ranked the adorning of churches as one of the deadly 
sins of Rome. This cathedral was, it is true, built 
long after La Rochelle had ceased to be a Huguenot 
stronghold; but when we remember that the beauty 
of any former church would have fallen a victim to 
the fanatic's hammer, we can forgive the architect, 
and cease to mourn for what might have been. The 
Cathedral of La Rochelle is not a thing of beauty, 
but at any rate it has not displaced anything that 
might have pleased us better. 

From La Rochelle to Bordeaux the road runs by 
heavy-leafed plantations of every kind of tree, nota- 
bly acacias, whose great size is particularly apparent 
to an English eye. Then, as the Bordelais comes 
nearer, we run down to the smooth, peaceful Cha- 

[289] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

rente, winding quietly through its meadow lands, not 
unlike the upper reaches of the Thames, and yet very 
unlike in one respect, since the water is completely 
deserted, and even in the height of summer few 
pleasure boats disturb its smooth surface. Boating 
as an amusement per se has very little place in the 
programme of a French country gentleman, though 
bathing and fishing are both included in it; and the 
same thing is noticeable nearer Paris, on the Marne, 
where a pair-oar gig, if ever it got there, would part 
its timbers through sheer neglect, and break up in a 
few months. 

Bordeaux itself is worthy of its reputation, and is 
certainly, strictly speaking, a " handsome " city, with 
a waterway almost as grand as the Thames at Lon- 
don, spanned by a beautiful bridge of red-brick and 
stone, built in 1822, which might well serve as a 
mod'el for some of our London bridges. It is a 
pleasant place enough when once the fact of its being 
a large and modern city is accepted ; and although it 
has not the romance of the inland hill-towns nor the 
picturesque situation of La Rochelle, it has always 
been a city of note, ever since the Gauls came down to 
the river and called their settlement Burdigala. For 
three centuries it belonged to England; the same 
Countess Eleanor, of whom we heard at Poitiers, 
brought it to her English husband, Henry IL, and 

[290] 



LA ROCHELLE AND BORDEAUX 

for some reason it does not seem to have been in- 
cluded in the general confiscation of English terri- 
tory under Philip Augustus, so it remained an 
English town and shared in English victories and 
defeats until Charles VII. v^as crowned, and the 
English retired by degrees to their own land. Bor- 
deaux was also the birthplace of poor, weak, well- 
meaning Richard II.; and his father, the victor of 
Poitiers, held his court in the town for some time. 
Here he held, too, his conference upon the affairs of 
Castile. 

Don Pedro was at that time engaged in a 
struggle for the Castilian throne with his brother, 
who was not the lawful heir. Neither prince seems 
to have been blameless in his conduct, and Edward 
declared that he only upheld the claim of Pedro on 
account of his lawful birth, and not from any in- 
dividual deserts; but this declaration apparently 
failed to satisfy the rest of the English and Gascons 
within Bordeaux, and it was finally decided to sum- 
mon a council, composed of all the barons in Aqui- 
taine, "when Don Pedro might lay before them his 
situation, and his means of satisfying them, should 
the prince undertake to conduct him back to his own 
country, and to do all in his power to replace him 
upon his throne." The conference resulted in a de- 
cision in favour of Pedro, and by order of the 

[ 291 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

English king a certain number of knights and men- 
at-arms were sent from Bordeaux to escort the 
claimant back to Spain and to help him to regain 
his own, all expenses being paid by Castile — a frugal 
method of rendering aid! 

The Cathedral is attributed to the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries, and as it now stands consists of a 
large nave, without aisles, which were swept away 
for purposes of roof construction, as at Angers and 
in Notre-Dame-de-la-Couture at Le Mans. Accord- 
ing to Mr. Bond, an early tower was built in 550, 
which was noticed by Fortunatus. In plan the 
building shows the influence of the well-known 
church of the Cordeliers at Toulouse. " Its western 
portion is a vast nave without aisles, sixty feet wide 
internally and nearly two hundred feet in length. 
Its foundations show that, like that at Angouleme, 
it was originally roofed by three great domes; but 
being rebuilt in the thirteenth century, it i& now 
covered by an intersecting vault . . . and an 
immense array of flying buttresses to support its 
thrust, all which might have been dispensed with had 
the architects retained the original simple and more 
beautiful form of roof." 

Within easy distance of Bordeaux is Libourne, a 
little town upon the Dordogne, which, though now 
overshadowed by the great port of the Garonne, was 

[292] 



LA ROCHELLE AND BORDEAUX 

in the Middle Ages of almost equal importance in 
the wine-growing country, and had a special interest 
as being one of the villes bastides found in several 
places in the south of France, especially in Guyenne. 
These really owe their origin to England, for they 
were founded by Edward I. during his French wars 
as refuges for those unable to take an active part in 
the struggle. 

Mr. Barker, in his " Two Summers in Guyenne," 
gives a very interesting description of these 
towns, noticing particularly the straight lines of 
their streets. *' In contrast to the typical mediasval 
town that grew up slowly around some abbey or at 
the foot of some strong castle that protected it, and 
in the building of which, if any method was observed, 
it was that of making the streets as crooked as pos- 
sible, to assist the defenders in stopping the inward 
rush of an enemy, the streets of the bastide were all 
drawn at right angles to each other." The bastides 
were built merely for shelter, not, as was the case 
with other towns, for defence as well, though in the 
lawless days of the thirteenth century it was some- 
times necessary even here to put up a wall, palisade 
and moat. Libourne has a remnant of such fortifica- 
tion in a quaint old round Tour de I'Horloge with 
machicolations and a pointed roof. The term bastide 
was also applied to a single work of defence which, 

[293] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

although isolated, formed part of a continuous system 
of fortification. A single house outside the walls of 
a town was also called a bastide. 

Passing out from Libourne, we reach the very 
heart of this wine-growing country — a true country 
of the south it seems in summer, with the endless 
stretches of vineyards — row after row of green, 
twisting, climbing wreaths round their stiff, straight 
poles, under a blazing southern sky, and every now 
and then a single hill rising suddenly out of the plain, 
whilst the river slips quietly away in the distance to 
the sea. On, or rather in, one of these hills the hermit 
fimilion fixed his cave-dwelling, far back in the 
legendary years of history; and now — strange con- 
trast! — the town founded by this ascetic, abstemious 
saint owes its fame to the purple juice of the grape, 
and sends forth from its slopes not water from his 
dripping well, but good red wine to gladden the 
heart of man. A visitor to Saint-Emilion in early 
summer will find a curious greenness over everything 
— not only in the freshness of the vineyards. When 
evening falls the very labourers rise from their task 
and move home through the dusk like so many green 
spectres — though from no other cause than from 
their constant watering of the vines with sulphur- 
water to kill off the devouring insects. 

Irrespective of wine-growers, Saint-fimilion has 

[294] 



LA ROCHELLE AND BORDEAUX 

many things to be seen on its crescent-shaped hill. 
There is the wonderful church, carved out of the 
clifif-facCj now in ruins, but possessing store enough 
of massive square piers and round-headed arches to 
bear witness to its ancient grandeur; and a separate 
Gothic tower and spire of the twelfth century points 
a long tapering finger above the narrow creeper- 
grown streets and low, crowded roofs on the hill-side. 
The church to which the tower really belongs is not 
this curious monument carved from the rock, but the 
collegiate church farther up the hill, now used as a 
parish church. Other monuments there are besides 
— the icy-cold, moss-grown vault known as the 
" Grotte de Saint-Emilion," where superstitious 
maidens drop pins into the well to find out when they 
shall be married; the ruined convent of the Corde- 
liers, with its grass-grown courts and ivy-covered 
cloister arcades, and the great walnut tree whose 
branches shade an empty, silent place where once the 
brothers chanted and the novices worked at their 
simple tasks ; and the cave-dwellings, where seven of 
the Girondists hid from the wrath of the Terror, 
sheltered and fed by a kindly couple who paid later 
for their good nature by the guillotine, after four 
of the seven refugees had been captured and ex- 
ecuted. 

The ancient Saint-fimilion — ^the town to which 

[297] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

most of these buildings carry us back — is in reality 
an old English fortress, growing from the oppidum 
of the Gauls to the fortified stronghold which passed 
to Edward I. and continued, with a few interrup- 
tions, to enjoy the privileges of a royal borough of 
England until the fifteenth century. 



[ 298 ] 



SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

MB^^HE Senones, who settled on the banks of 
m C| the river Yonne and founded the city of 
^^^^^ Agenticum, which we know to-day as 
Sens, were one of the most influential 
people in Gaul — even the Parisii were considered of 
less account — and did not submit to the Roman yoke 
until the final defeat of Vercingetorix. The change 
of dominion, however, in no way detracted from the 
importance of their capital city, but rather enhanced 
it, since the conquerors made the town metropolis of 
the fourth Lugdunensis, and were at some pains to 
rebuild it in a fashion befitting its position. Six 
great highways met within its walls; arches, aque- 
ducts and amphitheatres sprang up all over the city, 
and Agenticum henceforth became a prosperous 
and powerful stronghold, well able to withstand the 
incursions of later days, of which there were many, 
on the part of the Franks and the Saracens and, 
finally, of the Normans. 

[ 299 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Christianity was introduced by the martyr-saints 
Savinian and Potentian, who, as at Chartres, built 
the first church in the city, thus laying, so tradition 
has it, the foundations of the Cathedral which was 
to come in after times. The town then became an 
archbishopric, and later, like most towns of any 
standing, a hereditary countship, the proximity of 
the two overlords, spiritual and temporal, leading not 
infrequently to disastrous results, especially when in 
the twelfth century a communal power sprang up 
and contributed a third factor to the contest. 

In 1234 Louis IX. married Marguerite de Pro- 
vence in the Cathedral of Saint Etienne, and on his 
return from the Holy Land, five years later, with 
the precious relics purchased from the Emperor of 
Constantinople, the reliquary and its contents were 
paraded through the streets in a palanquin, borne 
by the king and his brother, Robert d'Artois, who 
walked bare-headed and bare-footed at the head of 
the procession, casting aside all their royal state — • 
which, indeed, poor Louis would have gladly left 
for ever — to set an example of reverent homage to 
the people of Sens. Thomas a Becket lived for some 
months in the Abbey of Sainte-Colombe by the river- 
side, founded by one of the Chlothars in the seventh 
century in memory of the young virgin saint who 
suffered martyrdom under the rule of Aurelian. 

[300] 



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SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

Sens, on its quiet, graceful little river, " bending 
... link after link through a never-ending rustle 
of poplar-trees," is a picturesque place, like most 
towns which have left their importance behind 
them in the Middle Ages, and have come down to 
modern days unmodernised. Standing on the far 
bank of the Yonne, looking across the river 
reaches, one gets a very delightful picture of the 
town, almost like that of some of our English 
Cathedral cities — the shining river, the green 
water-meadows, and above them the deeper green 
of the grand old trees, clustering round the great 
church, whose high grey tower rises from their midst, 
watching the town, meadows and river by day and 
by night, when men wake and when they take their 
rest, as it has watched ever since William the archi- 
tect built up its stones and brought their pattern 
across the water that the church of Britain's first 
Christian city might share the glories of her sister in 
France. 

Sens is not very well known to travellers, although 
there is no cathedral in the whole breadth of 
France which ought to be dearer in the eyes of every 
Englishman, on account of its being in all probability 
the parent of the choir of Canterbury. Hither 
Becket is said to have fled, and to have sought sanctu- 
ary at the altar of St. Thomas against the persecu- 

[301] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

tion of Henry IT. Viollet-le-Duc describes St. 
Etienne as a cathedral unique both in plan and style 
of architecture — a mixture of arches both round and 
pointed, such as we find in the choir of Canterbury, 
showing how much it is under the influence of the 
Burgundy school. This is proved by the great simi- 
larity of plan between the other Burgundy cathe- 
drals, and it is surmised that after the eleventh 
century Autun, Langres, Auxerre and Sens possessed 
certain dispositions of plan peculiar to themselves, 
which were adopted in the Eastern portions of Can- 
terbury. There appears to be no precise information 
as to the early foundation of the Cathedral of Sens, 
and the architect who designed it is unknown. The 
west front exhibits a number of fine sculptures re- 
lating to the lives of St. Stephen, St. John, and other 
saints; in the central portion, which dates from the 
end of the twelfth century, religion has given place 
to the arts and sciences, which are represented by 
twelve sculptured figures, now in a mutilated con- 
dition — Grammar, Medicine (a figure holding 
plants), Rhetoric (giving a discourse). Painting 
(represented drawing on a tablet placed on the 
knee), Astronomy, Music, Philosophy, &c. Under] 
each figure is sculptured an animal or monster; in| 
one case a lion is devouring a child, an elephant 
carrying a tower. . . . The " encyclopaedic spirit " 

[302] 




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SENS 



SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

was dominant in the twelfth century, and in the 
object lesson of these stones an ignorant and unlettered 
crowd could find its elementary instruction. 

Auxerre, which is about twelve miles from the 
main line between Paris and Dijon, may be con- 
sidered as an outpost lying on the threshold of the 
Morvan country. Many of the towns in this district, 
notably Semur and Avallon, are built on large 
granite bosses protruding through the oolitic forma- 
tion. Auxerre possesses churches as fine as those of 
any other city of its size in France. As one enters 
the town by the lower of the two bridges which cross 
the Yonne, the three churches — St. Pierre, St. 
Etienne and St. Germain — suddenly burst into view. 
On the left is St. Pierre, with its picturesque tower 
and forecourt entered through a Renaissance gate- 
way; the Cathedral of St. Etienne with its single 
tower, high nave, and girdle of flying buttresses, 
stands on the highest ground in the centre of the 
group; and further eastwards the abbey church of 
St. Germain, detached from its spire, spreads out 
along the beautiful river front of the Yonne. 

" Towards the middle of the tenth century the 
Cathedral of St. Etienne was complete in its main 
outline ; what remained was the building of the great 
tower, and all that various labour of final decoration 
which it would take more than one generat^n to 

[305] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

accomplish. Certain circumstances, however, not 
wholly explained, led to a somewhat rapid finishing, 
as it were out of hand, yet with a marvellous fulness 
at once and grace. Of the result much has perished, 
or been transferred elsewhere ; a portion is still visible 
in sumptuous relics, in stained glass windows, and, 
above all, in the reliefs which adorn the west portals, 
very delicately carved in a fine firm stone from 
Tounerre, of which time has only browned the sur- 
face and which, for early mastery in art, may be 
compared to the contemporary work in Italy." — 
Walter Pater, " Imaginary Portraits." 

The interior of the Cathedral offers one very 
striking piece of architectural planning: the Lady 
Chapel and chevet are joined together by two slender 
shafts, an arrangement by which the three features, 
ambulatory, chevet and Lady Chapel, are united in 
one broad design. This conception gives a very 
beautiful and harmonious effect. The eleventh- 
century spire of St. Germain, which appears quite 
detached from the body of the church, is one of the 
very early stone spires which exist now in France. 
It springs from a fairly broad base, and has a slight 
entasis or swelling to avoid the appearance of any 
midway gathering-in of the outline of the spire. The 
crypt of the eleventh century is " deep sunk into the 
ground and very dark," having aisles, and is in plan 

[306] 




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I 



SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

practically a small edition of the choir of Canter- 
bury, following the true Burgundian type, the details 
of its capitals resembling those of the old crypt of 
Nevers. Mr. Bond, referring to the crypt, or con- 
fessio of St. Germain, remarks that the burial cham- 
ber of a martyr was called a confessio: "where lay 
one who had confessed and given witness to his faith 
by his blood." The term " Martyrdom," applied to 
the north transept at Canterbury, is an exact equiva- 
lent to confessio. 

Saint Germain, the missionary bishop, lived here, 
and died at Ravenna; but his body was brought back 
from Italy to his birthplace by five pious sisters, one 
of whom, canonised under the name of Sainte Max- 
ime, lies buried in the abbey church founded by the 
great saint; where also, in the beautiful crypt, is the 
tomb of Germain himself, surrounded by a whole 
company of dead saints, among them the valiant 
Saint Loup, who, when bishop of Auxerre, drove out 
the Huns under Attila, and saved his city from de- 
struction. One interesting point in connection with 
this abbey is that it is the mother-foundation of Selby 
in Yorkshire. There is a long and mythical legend 
on the subject, teeming of course with miracles, from 
which may be gathered that one Bernard of Auxerre 
wandered from his native town and settled down — 
why is not very clear — upon the banks of the river 

[309] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Ouse, where he led the life of a hermit. The reports 
of his sanctity attracted to his cell many persons in 
the neighbourhood, influential men amongst them; 
and he attained such fame that his hermit's hut be- 
came the nucleus of a large monastery. However 
much of this is true, and however much legend, 
enough remains to show that the monks at Selby did 
come from Auxerre. 

In addition to these three churches, it would be 
impossible to overlook St. Eusebe, a church stand- 
ing in the middle of the town, especially if it be the 
traveller's lot to stay at the excellent Hotel de I'Epee, 
and to occupy a room giving on its court-yard. There 
cats, cooks, and chauffeurs combine to enliven the 
watches of the night, and when the morning dawns, 
and the " web of night undone," the jackdaws and 
the bells of St. Eusebe announce that sleep is no 
longer befitting, and he realises that a restless night 
is the price to be cheerfully paid if he desires, 
as an architectural enthusiast, to do his 'duty by 
Auxerre. 

Troyes, the ancient capital of Champagne, was 
formerly another " city of counts " — the residence of 
a long line of Thibauts, almost as famed in their day 
as the Fulks at Angers, and one of whom, called " le 
Chansonnier," might be compared to the minstrel 
King Rene. These counts of Champagne kept up 

[310] 




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SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

their state at Troyes until the fourteenth century, 
when the countship became merged in the French 
crown. The city likewise made of itself a landmark 
during the Hundred Years' War. After the battle 
of Agincourt it fell into the hands of the allied Bur- 
gundians and English ; and the name of Troyes now 
recalls the triumph, as brief as it was splendid, of 
the English arms in France. By this time Henry V. 
had set his foot upon the steps of the French throne, 
and the famous treaty signed here in 1420 secured 
the succession to him and his heirs, and, to complete 
the alliance, gave him the hand of the French 
princess, Catherine, the betrothal taking place in the 
Cathedral, and the marriage itself in the church of 
Saint Jean. Here is a contemporary account of the 
proceedings by the chronicler Monstrelet: " At this 
period Henry, King of England, accompanied by his 
two brothers, the Dukes of Clarence and of Glou- 
cester, the Earls of Huntington, Warwick, and Kyme, 
and many of the great lords of England, with about 
sixteen hundred combatants, the greater part of 
whom were archers, set out from Rouen, came to 
Pontoise, and then to Saint Denis. He crossed the 
bridge at Charenton and left part of his army to 
guard it, and thence advanced by Provins to Troyes 
in Champagne. The Duke of Burgundy and several 
of the nobility, to show him honour and respect, came 

[313] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

out to meet him, and conducted him to the hotel, 
where he was lodged with his princes, and his army- 
was quartered in the adjacent villages. . . . When 
all relating to the peace had been concluded, King 
Henry, according to the custom of France, affianced 
the Lady Catherine. On the morrow of Trinity Day 
the King of England espoused her in the parish 
church near to which he was lodged; great pomp 
and magnificence were displayed by him and his 
princes as if he were at that moment king of all the 
world." 

Ten years later, however, Joan of Arc captured 
the town on her march through France, and put an 
end to the English dominion. In 1525 Troyes was 
attacked by the Emperor Charles V., who burnt at 
least half the town, with the result that many of the 
old churches had to be rebuilt, and date therefore 
from the sixteenth century, with remains of earlier 
work here and there. Soon after the fire the city 
was overswept by the great wave of religious con- 
troversy which was to break over France in the latter 
years of the century, and since most of the inhabitants 
'declared for the Huguenot cause, their fortunes and 
ultimate fate were none of the happiest. In 1562 
the whole Huguenot population was driven out and 
compelled to fall back for safety upon the town of 
Bar-sur-Seine; and another decade saw a repetition 

[314] 



SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

of the terrible day of Saint Bartholomew, when the 
Romanists in Troyes followed the ghastly exam- 
ple of their white-sleeved brothers in Paris, and 
massacred every Huguenot prisoner within the 
walls. 

Historic interest at the present day divides the 
repute of Troyes with something less romantic — the 
system of weights and measures which we call " Troy 
weight," and which remains as a memorial of the 
mercantile fame of ancient Troyes. The fairs of 
Troyes date back to 1230, when Count Thibaut IV. 
granted to his subjects a municipal charter, and laid 
the foundations of a commercial repute which could 
vie with that of any town in France. From this time 
onwards Troyes occupied an important position in 
the commercial world, and became the resort of 
wealthy merchants from Italy and weavers with bales 
of rich stuffs from Flanders, to say nothing of the 
goldsmiths, silversmiths, and workers in precious 
stones who must have brought Troy weight into fame. 
Neither the Hundred Years' War nor the wars of 
the League appear to have affected the town's com- 
merce to any great extent, but the Revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes, by forcing the Protestant popula- 
tion, which included the majority of the ablest citi- 
zens, to emigrate, struck a blow at the industry of 
Troyes from which it never recovered; and now-a- 

[315] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

days both population and commerce have fallen to a 
state so low that it might almost be called one of 
decay, compared with the brilliant busy life of the 
mediaeval town. What a scene they must have 
afforded at fair-time, these narrow-built streets and 
small close squares, narrower and closer than ever 
we can picture them to-day, but alive with movement, 
laughter, above all with colour — such colour as your 
sober work-a-day crowd can never aspire to in these 
times ! 

Picturesque and lively as a French market 
of to-day undoubtedly is, with the red and green, 
russet and pearl-colour of its vegetables, the white 
caps of its women, the gay blues and crimsons 
of the umbrellas guarding the stalls, the laughter and 
chatter of the buyers, sellers, and idlers, it has nothing 
to compare with the wonderful colour-mass and 
movement of a mediaeval crowd, above all in such a 
place as this, the fame of whose fairs might well 
have attracted buyers from all parts of Europe. 
Stately, bearded Italian merchants — men like An- 
tonio of Venice with argosies on every sea — in furred 
cap and gold chain, dark-faced, keen-eyed Jews, 
young nobles, exquisite in silk and velvet, wandering 
minstrels fantastically arrayed, dancing-girls like 
bright-hued butterflies, all the good citizens of 
Troyes in their gayest holiday attire^ and the inevi- 

[316] 




'Uj^illrai 



A STREET IN TROYES 



1 



I 



SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

table jester in his motley, skimming in and out of the 
crowd, shaking his cap and bells in every face — the 
many-coloured banners of the town guilds streaming 
in the breeze above their heads, and the summer sun- 
shine flooding the whole scene, giving added light to 
every street-corner, added brilliancy to every hue. 
The Troyes of to-day is a picturesque town enough, 
with many beautiful timber-framed houses; but the 
light and life of the town went out with the depart- 
ure of the fairs, and beyond its churches Troyes now 
has little to distinguish it from the hundreds of 
quondam-mediaeval towns scattered through the 
length and breadth of France. 

On our architectural pilgrimage through the 
town the Cathedral naturally claimed our first 
attention; but we had not got much further than 
admiration of the splendour of the stained glass, and 
a short analysis of the beauty of the interior, when a 
remorseless sacristan informed us that the Cathedral 
was about to close for two hours. Driven outside, 
the contemplation of the splendid Flamboyant west 
portal reminded us of what we have referred to else- 
where — that these deep-set porches in the French 
cathedrals are considered as lineal descendants of 
the ancient narthex. Troyes, Laon, Bourges and 
many other churches lead one to an attempt to follow 
out the evolution of these great porches. In the an- 

[319] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

cient basilican churches the narthex was the first 
section of the building — an ante-temple, long and 
narrow, in front of the nave. In the primitive 
Church it was especially allotted to the monks and 
the women, and used for certain offices, such as roga- 
tions, supplications, and night watches ; it was further 
destined as a place for catechumens and penitents, 
who were permitted to assist at Divine Service out- 
side the Temple. Heretics and schismatics might 
also here attend and listen to the reading of the 
Scriptures, this privilege being accorded them in the 
hope of their ultimate conversion ; and corpses were 
placed in the narthex during the performance of the 
funeral rites. In the Middle Ages the denomination 
narthex was given to closed porches of churches, and 
ceased to be any longer applicable to a portion of a 
religious edifice lying within the walls. It was ulti- 
mately replaced by the word porch. These porches 
were both open and closed and formed a kind of 
vestibule. 

The baptism of children and not of adults rendered 
it unnecessary to provide for the preparation of con- 
verts before being introduced into the Church. 
There were no more catechumens undergoing their 
time of probation, and in consequence the spacious 
vestibule to which they had hitherto been relegated 
disappeared as an essential portion of a large church, 

[320] 



SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

and was replaced by a porch which was either open 
or closed, and occupied a position in front of the 
nave similar to that in which its predecessor, the 
narthex, had stood. These porches being reserved 
for the faithful remained, qua porches, as very im- 
portant annexes to the churches, and formed large 
vestibules, often closed, which ran along the outside 
of the western wall of a church, having sometimes 
the appearance of a cloister, as at Toury, which was 
built in 1230. 

Under the porches before the main entrances of 
many ancient cathedrals bishops, emperors and 
honoured citizens were often buried, as the eccle- 
siastical law in the primitive Church did not allow 
people to be buried inside the walls of the sacred 
building. Many important services were held under 
these porches; prayers for the dead were offered up, 
ablutions performed by the faithful before entering 
the church, relics and images were exposed, and lita- 
nies chanted. Later it became absolutely necessary 
to keep them strictly closed on account of the abuse 
of the shelter of the porch by the erection of market 
stalls and booths on fair-days under the shadow of 
the church, and the crowd of buyers and sellers 
making the air ring with their noisy bargainings. 

A further development was to make the porch a 
kind of arcaded avant-porte surmounted by a gable 

[321] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

with sculptured features. These decorated canopies 
were by degrees thrown back into the main wall, be- 
came merged into the mouldings of the doorway, and 
were finally lost as a separate feature in the highly 
ornamented and deeply splayed portal. 

Fortunately the ecclesiastical interest of Troyes is 
not confined to one corner, and the churches of Saint 
Urbain and the Madeleine lie in one's path to the 
market-place along the very picturesque streets of 
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century houses, which 
offer every conceivable variation of roof and 
gable. 

The beautiful details of the unfinished church of 
Saint Urbain may well have won for itself the repu- 
tation of equalling if not of surpassing anything of 
its kind either in France or Germany; and although 
it is still in the hands of the restorer, there is now no 
scaffolding to prevent one looking in admiration at 
the graceful choir and transepts. The detached 
pignons above the chancel window spring from the 
buttresses clear of the wall, and throw a deep shadow 
over the upper portion of the windows. This shadow 
gives an appearance of weight and stability to the 
building, which is certainly required as an assurance 
against the result of too daring construction. 

In the Madeleine, which is not far from Saint 
Urbain, is a notable rood-screen, full of luxuriant 

[322] 



SENS, AUXERRE, AND TROYES 

tracery and sculpture of a late Flamboyant period. 
It attracts attention, not because it fulfils any cere- 
monial requirements or forms any part of an 
architectural effect in the interior of the church, but 
rather on account of its singular appearance of being 
slung between two pillars. 



[323] 




MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

'EAUX is a beautifully situated little town 
on the banks of the Marne some thirty 
miles from Paris, on the way to the 
Champagne country. Its general appear- 
ance can best be gathered from the delightful public 
promenade along the river-side which is entered im- 
mediately on the right of the station. The Cathedral 
dates back to the early thirteenth century, but very 
shortly after it was finished, either owing to the work 
of construction being hurried or to the foundations 
being insecure, large cracks and actual shifting of 
the masonry declared themselves, and a great deal of 
remodelling and -alterations became necessary. The 
vaulting and first stage of the choir aisles — or 
triforium ambulatory — were removed, the aisles 
being thereby doubled in height. The choir eleva- 
tion is a very beautiful expression of thirteenth- 
century design. The transept is short, and has a 
large rose window and a richly-decorated portal. 

1 324 ] 



MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

It is said that at one time, namely in the 
thirteenth century, architects conceived the idea of 
covering the walls on the inside of the porch with 
some vast design of decoration, by which the colour 
poured into the church through the large rose-win- 
dow should be enhanced by great spaces of painted 
wall-surface. This conception. However, was very 
short-lived, and towards the end of the century 
painted subjects were confined almost entirely to the 
windows; and the internal decoration of the revers 
of the porches was conceived, as at Meaux, more in 
an architectural spirit with pilasters, arcading, etc., 
as motives, rather than with features suggested by 
the painter's art. 

Meaux as well as Laon, Soissons, Beauvais, 
Noyon and other towns in the district felt the effects 
of the Jacquerie revolts in the thirteenth century. 
Indeed, many of the ladies who suffered from the 
horrors of the persecution at Beauvais fled at first to 
Meaux to escape the fury of the rebels; and once 
having got within the town, they did not dare to leave 
it, so that to all intents and purposes they were pris- 
oners within its walls. Throughout the whole dis- 
trict bands of robbers and furious peasants infested 
the roads or lay in ambush to catch the unwary, and 
it was thus very dangerous to go from one town to 
another, even under an armed escort. Hearing of 

[325] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OE FRANCE 

the plight of these ladies in Meaux, among whom 
were the Duchesses of Orleans and Normandy, the 
Earl 'of Foix and the Captal de Buch resolved to 
go to their aid, and set out forthwith from Chalons, 
to find a great host of the peasantry also bound for 
the same place. The rebels had heard that Meaux 
was chiefly inhabited by refugee women and 
children, also that it contained a great deal of treas- 
ure; and they were now flocking down every road, 
from Valois, from Beauvoisie and from Paris, 
towards the little town upon the Marne. Foix and 
his company were received with the utmost joy, for 
the peasants had already begun to fill the streets and 
to do what damage they could, and the ladies were 
naturally in great alarm. " But when these banditti 
perceived' such a troop of gentlemen, so well 
equipped, sally forth to guard the market-place, the 
foremost of them began to fall back. The gentle- 
men then followed them, using their lances and 
swords. When they felt the weight of their blows, 
they, through fear, turned about so fast, they fell one 
over the other. All manner of armed persons then 
rushed out of the barriers, drove them before them, 
striking them down like beasts, and clearing the town 
of them, for they kept neither regularity nor order, 
slaying so many that they were tired. They flung 
them in great heaps into the river. In short, they 

[326] 




i- :A 



■■ i; 



X 
< 




MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

killed upwards of seven thousand. Not one would 
have escaped if they had chosen to pursue them 
further." 

Another siege famous in the annals of Meaux is 
that during the wars of Henry V., when the English 
king encamped before the town in October, 142 1, and 
set engines to batter down the gates and walls, having 
entrenched his own army meanwhile in a strong posi- 
tion between hedges and ditches. " The King of 
England," Monstrelet tells us, "was indefatigable 
in the siege of Meaux, and having destroyed many 
parts of the walls of the market-place, he summoned 
the garrison to surrender themselves to the King of 
France and himself, or he would storm the place. 
To this summons they replied that it was not yet time 
to surrender, on which the King ordered the place to 
be stormed. The assault continued for seven or eight 
hours in the most bloody manner; nevertheless, the 
besieged made an obstinate defence, in spite of the 
great numbers that were attacking them. Their 
lances had been almost all broken, but in their stead 
they made use of spits, and fought with such courage 
that the English were driven back £rom the ditches, 
which encouraged them much." This state of affairs 
lasted for six months; the garrison of Meaux, who 
seem to have behaved all through with the utmost 
gallantry, were in hopes of relief from the Dauphin, 

[329] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

but at the end of April, finding further resistance 
impossible, they gave themselves up into the hands 
of Henry. A treaty was set on foot vi^hereby, " on 
the nth day of May, the market-place and all Meaux 
were to be surrendered into the hands of the kings of 
France and England." The leaders were made pris- 
oners of war, and the chief offender, the bastard of 
Vaurus, who " had in his time hung many a Bur- 
gundian and Englishman," was beheaded and hung 
as a warning on a tree outside the walls of the town. 
King Henry himself — adds the French chronicler — 
" was very proud of this victory, and entered the place 
in great pomp, and remained there some days with 
his princes to repose and solace himself, having given 
orders for the complete reparation of the walls that 
had been so much damaged by artillery at the siege." 

Meaux is of course notably associated with Bos- 
suet, the famous preacher, who was appointed to its 
bishopric in 1681. The study and garden where he 
wrote many of his sermons are still shown among his 
other memorials in the fiveche, near the Cathedral. 

"Dans les choses necessaire, I'unite; dans les 
douteuses, la liberte; dans tous les cas, la charite." 
In these few words one may look for the keynote of 
Bossuet's whole life. Temperate in all things, yet 
possessed with an eloquence more moving, it was 
said, than that of any man since the days of the 

[ 330 ] 




■#*. 






THE OLD MILLS AT MEAUX 



MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

Christian Fathers, and employed always in the cause 
of the Church he loved so well, the ".Aigle de 
Meaux " well deserves his place among the greatest 
ecclesiastics France has ever known, and France, just 
at this time, was rich in ecclesiastical genius. There 
was Fenelon at Cambrai and Mascaron at Tulle, 
there were Massillon and Bourdaloue, Arnauld and 
Fleury — all of them men of note, both in the pulpit 
and in the world of books; but Bossuet stands out 
before them all. 

He made an early entrance into the cultivated 
world, preaching his first sermoir, upon a subject 
chosen at random, in the salon of the Hotel Ram- 
bouillet, when hardly out of his teens; and the Mar- 
quis de Feuquieres, who had introduced him into 
this society of Precieuses, soon found reason to be 
proud of his protege. The young man was destined 
to go on as he had begun; a few more years saw him 
established as Canon of Metz, the close friend of 
Conde and of the Calvinist Paul Ferri, with whom 
he never tired of disputing theological questions in 
a perfectly amicable spirit, acting up to his maxim 
of " liberty in doubtful things " ; and finally his 
reputation brought him to Paris, where he preached 
during Lent, 1656, and brought before the world the 
sermon as he created it, purified from the profanities 
of an immoral age, strengthened by his steadfast sim- 

L333I 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

plicity, and quickened by the fire of his eloquence. 
Bossuet found that In spite of himself his fame as an 
orator — a fame after which he had never striven — 
was firmly established In the capital, and after he had 
preached before the king In the chapel of the Louvre 
his success was practically assured. Honours and 
dignities came fast upon him; he became Bishop of 
Condom, and In the following year (1670) was en- 
trusted with the education of the Dauphin, while the 
Academic Frangalse opened its doors to his genius, 
and In 168 1 he was appointed to the See of Meaux. 
Hardly had Bossuet settled down, however, In the 
quiet little eveche, with its pleasant green garden, 
than he was called out again Into the world of noise 
and controversy. In 1682 Louis XIV. convoked the 
famous assembly of clergy to discuss the breach which 
had lately disclosed itself between the State of France 
and the Papacy. The king contended for the right 
of patronage over any vacant sees or benefices, claim- 
ing that so long as they remained unoccupied, their 
revenues fell due to the Crown ; and called together 
the clergy of the realm to uphold his right and to 
draw up a code of rules that should set a line be- 
tween spiritual and temporal authority. Bossuet 
preached the sermon which was to open the Convo- 
cation; and his clear practical sense and eloquent 
denunciation of the encroachments of the Papacy 

[334] 



MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

destroyed the remnants of Pope Innocent's power in 
France. He summed up the case in four clauses. 
First, " That the Pope has no temporal power over 
kings"; secondly, "That his spiritual authority is 
inferior to that of a general assembly"; thirdly, 
" That, in consequence, the use of this authority ought 
to be regulated by the canons of the Church and by 
customs generally approved"; and last, "That the 
papal decision on matters of faith is only infallible 
by consent of the Church." Thus did Bossuet estab- 
lish the privileges and the liberty of the Gallican 
Church. 

As soon as possible the great bishop disengaged 
himself from the affairs of the nation, and was occu- 
pied, not in gaining fresh honours, but with the care 
of his diocese. The picture of his last years is a 
graceful and pleasant one, and shows the great man 
leading the life of a simple country priest; writing 
sermons in his study or garden, directing his con- 
vents, schools and hospitals, visiting his poor and sick 
people, even catechising the children of Meaux; and 
at times retiring into the seclusion of the monastery 
of La Trappe, to gather strength and courage for the 
better fulfilment of his pastoral duties. 

The old timber water-mills behind the Town Hall 
are the outward sign of one of the great industries of 
Meaux. They have withstood for many generations 

[ 335 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

the rushing torrents of the Marne, which threaten to 
undermine the starlings and timbers of the mills and 
to engulf them in its waters. These for some reason 
or other are almost as green as the outpourings of the 
Rhone at Geneva. It would be interesting to know 
if Meaux possessed any feudal right over the neigh- 
bouring peasants, compelling them to come and wait 
their turn at the mill, and pay whatever price might 
be demanded, and forbidding them, even in times of 
heavy yield, to get their corn ground elsewhere. Such 
oppressions actually existed in the villages attached 
to the great chateaux, where the seigneur had a right 
to keep huge rabbit-warrens and pigeon-houses, 
whose inhabitants devastated, year in, year out, the 
surrounding crops of the peasants. 

The little city of Senlis, with its girdle of Roman 
walls and watch towers, is one of the most attractive 
places within reach of Paris. It is situated about 
thirty-five miles to the northeast, in the midst of the 
great forest land of Hallatte and Chantilly. Until 
the dissolution of the Carlovingian empire Senlis en- 
joyed the privileges of a royal residence, and, indeed, 
down to the time of Henri de Navarre the kings of 
France continued to visit the city, and were lodged 
in a castle built on the site of the Roman praetorium. 
The ruins of this castle, some of which date from the 
eleventh century, may still be seen among the attrac- 

[336] 



MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

tions of Senlis; and of even greater interest are the 
Roman ramparts which surround the town and which 
were built when it still held its position as the town- 
ship of the Silvanectes. These walls, " twenty-three 
feet high and thirteen feet thick, are, with those of 
St. Lizier (Ariege) and Bourges, the most perfect 
in France. They enclosed an oval area 1024 feet 
long from east to west and 794 feet wide from north 
to south. At each of the angles formed by the broken 
lines of which the circuit of 2756 feet is composed, 
stands or stood a tower; numbering originally tv^^enty- 
eight and now only sixteen, they are semicircular in 
plan, and up to the height of the wall are unpierced. 
The Roman city had only two gates ; the present num- 
ber is five." 

As one approaches the town from the station 
through the boulevard, the Renaissance tower of 
Saint Pierre and the beautiful fleche of the Cathe- 
dral stand right ahead. The first of these two 
churches is now desecrated and converted into a large 
market hall, having previously been used as cavalry 
barracks. It is short and broad, having only three 
bays to the nave, two to the choir, and an apse of 
three lights; but it has one very marked feature, 
which is also seen, though to a lesser extent, in the 
Cathedral of Saint Gatien at Tours — the axis of the 
choir trends northwards, making with the nave an 

[337] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

angle of some seventeen to twenty degrees. There is 
a certain amount of early Gothic work worth notice, 
but the prevailing style is Flamboyant; in the two last 
side chapels of the choir some curious vaulting is to 
be found, resembling rude attempts at fan tracery 
with heavy keyed pendants. 

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame covers during its 
construction a period of some four hundred years, 
and is probably only part of what was originally de- 
signed. The glory of the building is the beautiful 
spire to the south-west tower. Rising from a base 
octagonal in plan, the angles are lightened by de- 
tached pillars supporting a pyramidal canopy; the 
upper dormer windows are high and lancet-shaped, 
with the back of their gables sloping downwards and 
forming a sharp angle with the richly crocketed spire. 
Internally the church is a mixed product of the 
Transition and Flamboyant architects; the large 
clerestory windows may have been rebuilt later when 
the vaulting was constructed. In the ambulatory 
behind the altar the twelfth-century capitals remain, 
showing archaic Romanesque sculpture; and traces 
of this early work are to be found in many other parts 
of the building. The large west door is of the Char- 
tres type; in the tympanum are the figures of our 
Lord and the Virgin Mary, with a representation of 
the resurrection of the dead ; some of the figures are 

[338] 




SENLIS 



i 

I 



MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

flying upwards, while others are being tenderly 
awakened by angels swinging censers. 

Long before the train arrives at Beauvais the 
Cathedral is seen like a huge fortress in the distance, 
overtopping the quiet, modest landscape of the The- 
rain valley; and its great size is more acutely felt as 
one approaches its south doorway along the streets of 
little white-painted houses and shop-fronts. The 
immediate effect of the interior of this marvellous 
building is startling. Whatever emotion has been 
aroused in the architectural traveller by the glories 
of Amiens, Chartres, or Bourges, is for the moment 
entirely eclipsed by the first view of the choir of 
Beauvais, whose clerestory windows soar upwards 
with such a restless vitality as almost to pierce the 
vaulting. These choir bays look like shafts of 
masonry so elongated, so delicate, that one trembles 
for their stability. And this sensation gradually in- 
creases. The sense of strength and repose gives way 
to a feeling that this great ^'church in the air" is 
struggling against dissolution, and that its vast flying 
buttresses are only just sufficient to withstand the 
tremendous strain that is constantly being exerted on 
the building. It is only fair, however, to the architect 
of Beauvais choir to say that he was hampered by 
the want of means and probably also by the insuffi- 
cient site assigned to him for the planning out of his 

[341] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Cathedral. Had he worked under more favourable 
conditions he would have accomplished " an incom- 
parable work," for it is not, as VioUet-le-Duc 
remarks, " the theory " that was fatal to its construc- 
tion, but the execution, which is poor and mediocre. 
The lesson learnt from the Beauvais architect's 
temerity on the one hand, and from his beautiful dis- 
position of plan on the other, was of the greatest 
value to the designers of other Cathedrals executed 
at the same time — notably that of Cologne, which was 
constructed more or less contemporaneously with 
Beauvais. 

West of the Cathedral is the Basse CEuvre, a 
building which Fergusson describes as an example 
of the Latin style, and a stepping-stone from the 
Roman basilica to the Gothic church. This interme- 
diate style is noticeable in the Romanesque church 
of S. Vicenzo alle Fontane in Rome, where the bay 
is divided simply into pier arch and clerestory, show- 
ing in very simple terms an arrangement nearly 
approaching to Gothic. 

Of the history of Beauvais there is but little to be 
said, for it possesses none worthy of the name, or 
rather — since every town must have a story of some 
kind — none which associates itself to any great degree 
with outside events. It was established in the Roman 
era as the capital of the Bellovaci, under the name 

[342] 



MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

of Caesaromagus ; it was Christianised by Saint Lu- 
cian, who for his good works suffered martyrdom 
within the town ; and later on it became the head of 
a countship. This dignity, however, Beauvais did 
not long retain, for in the tenth century the temporal 
power of the count was vested in the spiritul power 
of the bishop, and any celebrity which the town may 
have attained was henceforth of purely ecclesiastical 
order. 

It did, however, play a prominent part in the 
peasant revolt known as the " Jacquerie " in the four- 
teenth century. A body of peasants, " without any 
leader," says Froissart, rose up with the intent to 
exterminate the upper classes — a forerunner of the 
Revolution — and perpetrated the most horrible atro- 
cities upon every knight and noble they could lay 
hands on in Beauvais. " They said that the nobles 
of the kingdom of France, knights and squires, were 
a disgrace to it, and that it would be a very meritori- 
ous act to destroy them all ; to which proposition every 
one assented as a truth, and added, shame befall him 
who should be the means of preventing the gentlemen 
from being wholly destroyed." 

When the revolt grew, instead of being crushed, 
the " gentlemen of Beauvoisie " were forced to send 
for help out of France, since matters were come to 
such a pass that " in the bishoprics of Noyon, Laon 

[ 343 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

and Soissons, there were upwards of one hundred 
castles and good houses of knights and squires de- 
stroyed." Aid soon came, notably from Flanders, 
Hainault and Navarre, the king of Navarre espe- 
cially signalising himself by putting three thousand 
rebels to death in one day. " When they were asked," 
says the chronicler, " for what reason they acted so 
wickedly, they replied they knew not, but they did 
so because they saw others do it; and they thought 
that by this means they should destroy all the nobles 
and gentlemen in the world." 

Edward III. besieged Beauvals in 1346, but with- 
out success, and it only fell into English hands in 
1420 through the treachery of Bishop Pierre 
Cauchon, whose name also appears as one of the 
witnesses against Joan of Arc at Rouen eleven years 
later. The memory of this latter offence so preyed 
upon his mind that when he became bishop of Lisieux 
— having presumably been ejected from the see of 
Beauvais — Couchon sought to expiate his sin by dedi- 
cating a chapel to the Virgin in the Cathedral of 
Saint Pierre. 

Hearing of the siege of Compiegne by the Bur- 
gundian forces, Joan had left Charles's army, which 
was still dawdling by the Loire in a state of inaction, 
and marched off to Compiegne to relieve his party 
there. Arrived without the town, she soon headed 

[ 344 ] 



MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

a sortie against the Burgundians; they were driven 
back, and it is probable that the expedition would 
have been attended by the success which, to do her 
justice, had up to this moment crowned the efforts of 
the Maid, had not a body of Englishmen come up 
unexpectedly between her and the town and driven 
her into a corner. She was of course speedily cap- 
tured. As soon as the news reached Paris both the 
University and the Vicar of the Inquisition demanded 
her person. Cauchon, however, stood firm. The 
Maid, he contended, had been captured within the 
diocese of Beauvais, and he, as the foremost prelate 
of the English party, claimed the right of putting her 
on trial; and after having paid to Burgundy 10,000 
livres for this right, sent the Maid to Rouen, there 
to stand on her trial for sorcery, before a court of 
which Cauchon was president; and this fact alone 
might reasonably destroy all hope for poor Joan. 

Another fourteenth-century bishop of Beauvais 
brought his diocese before the world in no small de- 
gree. Jean de Dormans was not only bishop; he 
became Chancellor of France, and obtained from 
Rome the rank of a cardinal, under the title of the 
Four Crowned Saints. In Paris Dormans endowed a 
foundation which still bears the name of College 
de Beauvais, though what remains of the building 
serves as barracks, and the light of learning has left 

[ 345 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

its precincts for ever. The old college is now united! 
to its neighbour, the College de Presle ; but the four- 
teenth-century chapel dedicated to Saint John the 
Evangelist still stands almost intact, though it, too, 
has been desecrated, and now serves the use of the 
military occupiers. Formerly there stood within this 
chapel six life-size figures, representing three men 
and three women of the Dormans family, and it is 
believed that when mediaeval fragments were pieced 
together to form the chapel of Abelard and Heloise, 
which is now part of the burial-ground of Pere-la- 
Chaise, the figure of one of these ladies of the four- 
teenth century was used to represent that of Heloise. 
One name there is on the page of their history 
which the inhabitants of this town remember with a 
veneration almost equal to that which the Orleannais 
regard Joan of Arc, and whose memory even now 
receives an annual tribute. It is that of another 
Jeanne, poor and obscure, who rose to heroism in the 
moment of her city's danger, and who, though she 
did not lead a mighty host to victory nor bring a 
monarch back to his own, yet saved her city from the 
encroachments of Burgundy, and gave the women of 
Beauvais a right to their country's esteem. The be- 
seiging army of Charles the Bold probably never 
received such a surprise as on that day in the year of 
grace 1472, when Jeanne Hachette led her conci- 

1 346 ] 



MEAUX, SENLIS, AND BEAUVAIS 

toyennes through the streets of Beauvais, menaced the 
foe from the ramparts, and actually bore away with 
her own hands one of the Burgundian standards. The 
banner is still kept in the H6tel-de-Ville ; and every 
year, on the feast of Ste. Angadreme, a grand pro- 
cession marches through the streets, in which the 
women are given the right of precedence over the 
men, in memory of the brave deeds of Jeanne and 
her sisters. 



[347] 




PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

'S a Cathedral city, Paris hardly comes 
mthin the scheme of this book. It has 
Been written about so much and so often, 
and occupies, both architecturally and 
historically, sucK a position as- would scarcely justify 
any but a full and detailed description. This great 
city, the living, moving source of one of the greatest 
nations of to-day, and at one time the mainspring of 
Europe itself, is not to be passed over with a few 
terse remarks; it is as though one tried to compress 
the history of France itself into a single chapter. On 
the one hand, a short sketch can hardly hope to do 
justice to Paris; on the other, to describe it at such 
length as it deserves would not be dealing fairly by 
the lesser towns, and further, this length would be 
so great as to render absurd its inclusion in a book of 
traveller's notes. Rather let it be regarded here in 
the light of point d^appui from which other places 
may be visited which do not lie on the direct route 

[348] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

from Paris to the provinces. Without attempting any- 
architectural description, however, it may be as well, 
before we pass outside the city walls, to mention three 
churches within Paris of which illustrations are given 
here, and to offer the briefest possible outline of their 
early history and foundation, as well as that of the 
great city of which they form a part. 

" Paris did not, like London, simply grow into 
the capital of a kingdom already existing. The city 
created first the county and then the kingdom, of 
which it was successively the head." In those days 
Paris ranked no higher than Soissons, Sens, Laon, 
Orleans, or Rouen; and in ecclesiastical dignity it 
was inferior to some of them, being, it is true, an 
episcopal see, but not a metropolitan. Certainly, as 
we have seen, it was approved as a military station 
by Caesar, and beloved as a residence by Julian; and 
the great position the city now holds in modern 
Europe and the modern world is rather apt to bias 
our estimate of these early honours, which were un- 
doubtedly shared by many other of the Gallic cities. 
Because Paris is now a metropolitan see, the centre 
of political and social France, we have a tendency to 
think that in all times the city must have ruled her 
neighbour towns in this way; whereas it was only 
by very slow degrees — long after it had become the 
seat of royalty and the nominal capital of France — 

[ 349 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

that Paris acquired an influence beyond the bounds 
of her own territories. The great lords of Burgundy, 
of Aquitaine, of Anjou, of Champagne — they were 
vassals to the king^ they paid him homage, they gave 
him their military service, but they and their do- 
mains formed no part of France; they were almost 
as separate from any head or centre as were the wide- 
scattered Teutonic states east of the Rhine. Nor was 
this felt to be in any way a disadvantage ; the kings 
in Paris would doubtless have welcomed the firm 
allegiance of these kings in all but name, because it 
would have meant a fresh access of power, an added 
strength wherewith to face their other foes; but no 
idea of national unity had any place in their calcula- 
tion. Paris had made for herself a dominion, and the 
time was to come when that dominion should stretch 
from the sea on the north, south and west, to the river 
and to the mountains on the east ; but as yet that time 
had not arrived. 

One more event which took place after Paris be- 
came the capital of France may be recorded here. 
This is the attempted siege in the days of Joan of 
Arc, which followed as the sequel to the king's coro- 
nation at Rheims. Having subdued so many cities 
in the north of France, and given to Charles VII. 
the crown of his ancestors, it was but natural that 
Joan should be anxious to lead him in triumph into 

[3SO] 








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PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

his capital, which at present declared for the enemy, 
and was occupied by Cardinal Beaufort's English 
troops and the army of Burgundy. The newly- 
crowned king, however, apparently considered that 
he had borne his share of the burden in the late pro- 
ceedings at Rheims, and seemed in no hurry to march 
upon Paris. Riding through the smaller towns, 
seeing their gates flung open wide to him^ and receiv- 
ing the homage and acclamations of the people, were 
occupations far more congenial to his indolent tastes 
than bestirring himself to take the field again ; and to 
their infinite annoyance Joan and d'Alengon per- 
ceived that he was gradually but surely working his 
way down to his castles on the Loire, from whose 
pleasant meadows they knew well that he would 
never return. The only wonder is that the Maid 
did not lose all patience and leave this dilatory prince 
to his fate. Instead of this she set out with the Due 
d'Alengon to Saint Denis, leaving Charles at Com- 
piegne, whence he followed them, " very sore against 
his will," as far as Senlis. Meanwhile each day of 
delay gave the English time to strengthen their posi- 
tion within the capital ; and Joan found that having 
brought the king to Senlis was by no means the same 
thing as conquering his unwillingness to strike what 
she and her party believed might be, if rightly 
directed, the final blow. Each time the Maid and 

[353] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

d'Alengon set out to invest Paris, messages came from 
the royal camp, commanding them to desist and 
return to Saint Denis. Finally the truth came out; 
the king cared more for peace and ease on the Loire 
than for glory in war, and desired to leave the camp. 
Had Joan believed less firmly in the divine right of 
kings, it is probable that she would have rebelled 
and besieged Paris on her own responsibility ; on the 
other hand, had Charles been left to the counsels of 
d'Alengon and the brave captains Dunois and La 
Hire, there is reason to suppose that he might have 
been persuaded to follow where Joan led, and might 
under her guidance have subdued Paris in a very 
short time. But there were the king^s favourites to 
reckon with, and these were not men. of war, but of 
peace, and not always of peace with honour — the 
foolish La Tremouille and the crafty Archbishop of 
Rheims, one of Joan's worst opposers — and these 
advisers easily worked upon the king's indolent good- 
nature to find in the eagerness of the Maid an undue 
desire for fresh conquest. As it was, Joan saw noth- 
ing before her but to obey the man to whom, as she 
believed, God had given the right to go or stay, to 
fight or to lie in peace, as his Majesty chose. She 
went to the statue of the Virgin at Saint Denis, bear- 
ing her armour; and there, kneeling in the church, 
she dedicated to Our Lady of Victories the helmet, 

[354] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

hauberk and coat of mail in which she had done so 
many great feats of arms ; and then rose and followed 
her king on his journey to the pleasant lands of the 
Loire. 

The early history of Paris lies buried in the un- 
recorded pages of the life of primaeval man. Its 
origin is humble in comparison with that of other 
capitals., although it bears a strong analogy to those 
surrounding physical conditions to which Venice 
owed its existence. Its cradle, according to M. Hoff- 
bauer, Paris a traverse les ages, was a small narrow 
island in the middle of the young Seine, which had 
then cut for itself its channel through the alluvial 
plains which had been left by the retiring sea towards 
the end of the Geological Tertiary period at the close 
of the glacial epoch. It was part of a group 
of five islands, of which three very soon disappeared, 
their soil being probably used either for embank- 
ments or for purposes of defence. As in the great 
estuary leading up to the morass surrounding Lon- 
don, many changes had been wrought by the hand of 
man in the general appearance of the Paris basin. It 
is true that the great embankments constructed by the 
Romans to keep the waters of the Thames within 
defined limits are not to be traced in the valley of 
the Seine, yet the rude habitations of wattle huts 
built on whatever hillocks were attainable entailed 

[355] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

embankments to a certain extent which should keep 
the Seine within its bounds at times of extraordinary- 
flood. As it stands to-day Paris is in one of the most 
fertile parts of the territory; it is on the banks of a 
great river which brings to it by its main stream and 
by its affluents the tribute of the richest provinces; it 
is surrounded by materials most necessary for the 
construction of its public and private edifices; and 
it is endowed by nature with all the fruitful resources 
tending towards the aggrandisement both of power 
and fortune. 

The condition of the early inhabitants of the Paris 
basin was that of one continual warfare against the 
denizens of the jungle, which with its rich and 
abundant vegetation covered the surrounding coun- 
try. Caverns and other places chosen for their abodes 
were disputed with lions, hyenas and tigers. The 
chase was their only means of subsistence (the art of 
husbandry being entirely unknown), and the num- 
ber of stone hatchets and harpoons, fishing-hooks, 
lances, &c., found deeply buried in the alluvial soil, 
bear testimony to the struggle for existence amongst 
the early inhabitants of the Seine valley. 

Caesar, when he was appointed commander of the 
Gauls in B.C. 59, found their central point of Paris 
inhabited by a Cymric or Celtic population, which 
he calls Gauls in his language but Celts in their own, 

[356] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

and separated from the Belgae by the Seine and 
Marne. Cssar wrote the place '' Lutetia," and when 
he convoked the inhabitants of Gaul to this town the 
neighbouring tribe was designated as " Parisii," and 
allied to the powerful clan of the Senones. 

With reference to the meaning of the word 
" Parisii," M. Bulet, in the " Dictionnaire Celtique," 
says that "bar" or "par" means in Celtic a boat 
(bateau), and that the low Bretons call the cargo of 
a boat "far." Herodotus (book ii., 96), in his 
description of the method of floating boats down 
stream on the Nile by means of a raft fastened on in 
front with a stone dragging behind, calls the boat 
" baris," and says that some of them are many thou- 
sand talents burthen. They were probably flat- 
bottomed, and similar to those now seen on the rivers. 
The Celtic word " par," signifying a boat, might 
well have produced the name Parisii, meaning boat- 
men, men who passed all their life in the " baris." 

The most ancient emblem of Lutetia which has 
been preserved from antiquity is that of the prow of 
a boat which one sees sculptured on the springing 
of the vault of the Roman palace of the Thermes, 
built on the left bank of the Seine; the powerful 
association of the Nautae Parisiaci, which is found 
at the head of the Parisian Navigation represented 
by the prow of a boat, has therefore a direct Celtic 

[357] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

or Gallic origin. Living only in rude cabins the early 
inhabitants naturally possessed no public building. 
Caesar therefore conceived the idea of convoking the 
Gaulish chiefs into one central place or forum, and 
ordered to be built a " Suggestum," a tribune from 
which he could harangue the assembled headmen. 
This is considered by some French architects as the 
earliest indication of their edilite naissdnte. As 
further evidence of their building and engineering 
capability, the inhabitants of Lutetia threw out 
bridges to join their island to the main banks of the 
river. Caesar frequently refers to the bridges built 
by the Gauls, such as the one at Melun, on the Seine, 
another across the Allier, near Vichy, of which 
ancient foundations and piers have been found, 
another at Orleans, and of such slender construction 
as to have especially attracted his attention, and, 
finally, the bridge of Lutetia across the main arm of 
the Seine, the predecessor of the present Pont Notre 
Dame, which has also left traces of its ancient 
piers. 

In Rome the Nautae Tiberis were a corporation 
who enjoyed the privilege of carrying corn and other 
produce from Ostia to the capital; similar associa- 
tions existed in Gaul in addition to the Nautae Pari- 
siaci, and on a wall of the amphitheatre of Nimes 
is an inscription in which as many as forty places 

[358] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

are mentioned where corporations enjoying the same 
privileges and immunities existed. No wonder the 
territory of the Parisii increased in commercial 
activity. Watered by the Seine, the Marne and the 
Oise, its trade routes by land and by water were fully 
organised and guarded by powerful associations 
which existed almost before the Roman Conquest, 
and attracted the attention of the writer Strabo. It 
soon developed under such advantages into a pros- 
perous and enlightened city. Roman buildings took 
the place of the Gallic huts, Roman laws governed 
the city, Roman customs and manners prevailed 
amongst the inhabitants, and by the time the first 
messengers of Christianity had penetrated into Gaul 
Lutetia had become a city not of the Gauls, but of 
the Romans. Curiously enough it was from Rome 
also that these early messengers came, to preach their 
doctrine to a Roman city. The pioneers were Saint 
Denis, generally confounded, for the sake of the 
antiquity of the Gallican Church, with the convert 
of Saint Paul, Dionysiiis the Areopagite, and two 
companions, Eleutherius and Rusticus; and their 
work was carried on by Martin of Tours, one of the 
bravest soldiers of the Emperor Julian, who left the 
army to preach the faith in Gaul, and to stamp out 
the cult of the old pagan gods. Speaking of Julian, 
moreover, may serve to remind us that it was at 

[359] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

Paris that he was first proclaimed emperor; here was 
his palace before his imperial honours came upon 
him, and here, he declares in his own writings, were 
spent the three happiest winters of his life, showing 
that even in these early times Lutetia was a fair and 
pleasant city, as it is to-day. 

In the following centuries Gaul was overrun with 
tribes from the east, Goths and Visigoths, Alemnanni 
and Huns, Burgundians and Franks. The last- 
named broke down the Roman defences all over the 
land and seized upon Paris. A new era now began 
for the city. Under Clovis, the first Frank king, it 
became the official capital of the State in 508, and 
from this time forward takes its place as one of the 
great cities of France. After the conversion of 
Clovis, abbeys and churches were built, great bishops 
and great saints preached and wrote their message, 
and indeed the eccleciastical fabric of the city seems 
to have grown up more quickly than the civil fabric, 
until the time of Charlemagne, when craftsmen's 
guilds were established, Jewish capitalists admitted 
within the walls, and a mercantile reputation 
founded. Then a second time the work of the con- 
querors seemed to be undone. The Northmen, more 
terrible invaders than Goths or Franks, plundered 
the coast-lands and presently swept up the Seine past 
Rouen to Paris, where they worked such havoc as 

[360] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

the town had never before known. The streets were 
set in flames, the monasteries were sacked and burnt, 
the priests and monks were massacred without mercy; 
yet all this evil was to end in better things. The 
very persistency of the Normans in besieging and 
pillaging a town four and five times, argued that the 
town itself must be worth the trouble, and the 
" lords " of Paris speedily began to look to its safety. 
Weak, foolish Charles the Fat could devise no better 
plan than the cowardly one of bribing the invaders 
to retreat; but Eudes, Count of Paris, knew that this 
would only be an inducement to them to come again, 
and determined once and for all to rid his city, at 
least, of this scourge. This he did with such effect 
that the crown of France was given to him and the 
inefficient Charles deposed. It was his nephew, 
Hugh the Great, who ruled at Paris in Rolf's day, 
and waged constant war with Neustria and Charles 
the Simple, the last of the Carlovingian kings, on the 
hill-crest at Laon. Then, at the end of the tenth 
century, began the feudal monarchy under the Cape- 
tian dynasty. The first of the line was the eldest son 
of Hugh the Great, and the connections which he 
brought with him promised well for the prestige of 
his new kingdom. On the one side, he was brother- 
in-law to the Norman Duke, Richard the Fearless; 
on the other, his own brother Odo was Duke of Bur- 

[361] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

gundy; in his own right he was lord of Picardy, of 
Maine, of Chartres, of Tours, of Blois, and of Or- 
leans; and his bond with the Church was further 
strengthened by the fact that he held the lay abbacies 
of Saint Martin, near Tours, and Saint Denis, near 
Paris. Thus the kingdom with which Hugh Capet 
began his reign was a fairly compact strip of land, 
having as boundaries Flanders to the north, Aqui- 
taine to the south. Champagne to the east, and Nor- 
mandy to the west. Of this kingdom Paris was 
nearly the actual geographical centre, and soon be- 
came the political centre also. 

The early importance of Paris in the tenth century 
is very different to that of London. Paris at this time 
was a military position of growing importance, both 
from its central situation and its place on the island 
in the Seine. London on her Thames had an almost 
similar position, but she derived her power not 
merely from her Teutonic conquerors, but also from 
her early connection with Roman and Celtic Britain; 
while as a military stronghold she was no less to be 
desired. 

The eastern point of the city, where the only bridge 
then existed, traversing the Seine in the exact place 
where now stands the Pont Notre Dame, a point 
where the roads through the province converged, was 
already a place sacred to the Gauls. Here were per- 

[362] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

formed rites and sacrifices to their mysterious divini- 
ties in an underground churcH which existed in the 
third century. Probably the tradition of dark deeds 
of persecution of the early Christians, human sacri- 
fices, and missionaries suffering death in the cages 
of lions which were kept for the purpose of exhibi- 
tions, prevented the Parisian boatmen, when they 
heard of the wonderful tidings of Galilee, from using 
this Gaulish building, so full of terrible reminis- 
cences, as their first church. The site of the Temple 
of Jupiter was chosen for the establishment of a 
church which should stamp out the heathen religion, 
crush with its heel the serpent's head and build upon 
its ruins a temple of the Holy Cross. About 375, on 
the site of the Temple of Jupiter, was built a church 
dedicated to Saint Etienne, which may be considered 
as the first Cathedral of Paris. 

To the splendour of this early basilica, built by 
Childebert in the early Latin style, with its marble 
columns, some of which are now in the Musee de 
Cluny, the monk Fortunatus bears witness, and his 
description of the edifice is thus given in M. Hoff- 
bauer's book on Paris : " Le vaisseau de cette eglise 
repose sur des colonnes de marbre, et le soin avec 
lequel on I'entretient en augment la beaute. Le pre- 
mier il fut eclaire de fenetres ornees de verres trans- 
parents par lesquels on regoit la lumiere. On dirait 

[ 363 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

que la main d'un ouvrier habile a emprisonne le jour 
dans le sanctuaire. Les feux tremblants de I'aurore 
naissante semblant se jouer jusque dans les lambris, 
et le temple est eclaire par la charte du jour meme, 
quand le soliel ne se montre pas. Le roi Childebert, 
anime d'un zele partlculier pour cette eglise destinee 
a son peuple, I'a dotee de richesses qui ne doivent 
jaimais s'epuiser; toujours passione pour les interets 
de la religion, il s'est empresse d'augmenter ses res- 
sources. Nouveau Melchisedech, notre roi est en 
meme temps un pontife qui remplit exactement ses 
devoirs de fidele comme ses devoirs de pasteur. Bien 
qu'occupe dans le palais qu'il habite du soin de 
rendre la justice, son plus grand desir est d'imiter 
I'example des saints eveques. II quitte la premiere 
charge pour en remplir une autre avec plus d'hon- 
neur, et le souvenir de ses grandes actions lui assure 
I'immortalite." 

By the twelfth century the basilica has disap- 
peared, anH its place has been taken, not by a single 
church, but by two churches side by side — Sainte 
Marie on the north, Saint Etienne on the south. At 
the beginning of the century Saint Etienne was the 
more important of the two, having escaped plunder 
at the hands of the Normans, who wrought considera- 
ble destruction in the sister church; but a twelfth- 
century archdeacon, Etienne de Garlande, took upon 

[364] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

himself the task of restoring Sainte Marie, which 
became known as the nova ecclesia, and formed the 
foundation of the great basilica planned by Maurice 
de Sully. This church, begun in 1163, was to unite 
Saint Etienne and Sainte Marie; the foundation 
stone was laid by Pope Alexander HI., and in 1218 
the remains of the old church of Saint Etienne were 
destroyed to make way for the south aisle of Notre 
Dame. The work went on into the thirteenth cen- 
tury; the great west portal was probably finished 
about 1223, and those of the transepts some forty years 
later. 

" There are absolutely only these two churches 
(Notre Dame and the Sainte Chapelle) left standing 
in the island of the city, and there is nothing in the 
history of Paris which more clearly exhibits the 
modern disposition to make a tabula rasa of the past." 
In the Middle Ages the great Cathedral of Paris — 
" cathedral " since the twelfth century — stood in its 
island of La Cite amidst a perfect cluster of lesser 
churches, of which only the chapel of Saint Louis 
remains. Mr. Hamerton, whose words are quoted 
above, gives quite a considerable list of them in his 
" Paris in Old and Present Times," Sainte Gene- 
vieve, Saint Jean le Rond, Saint Denis du Pas, and 
its brother church of La Chartre — these are but a 
few of their names, and yet these names are all that 

[ 365 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

now remain of churches where mediaeval knights and 
burghers and artificers worshipped, and into whose 
building mediaeval architects, unknown and for- 
gotten, put their best work and their highest service; 
even their sites are, in most cases, undiscoverable 
amongst the great mass of buildings, and bright wide 
streets, and green gardens of Paris as we know it. 
Some of these churches, like Saint Aignan and Saint 
Germain-le-Vieux, have left a few isolated columns 
and stones, but to find these, as one writer observes, 
" il faudrait penetrer dans les maisons et se livrer a 
des recherches." Another, the old Madeleine, has 
suffered an even worse fate, its last remaining chapel 
being now transformed into a wine-shop at the corner 
of the Rue des Marmousets; a private house now 
stands upon the site of Saint-Pierre aux Bceufs, built, 
says an inscription on the f agade, in the middle of the 
twelfth century, and demolished as late as 1837; and 
as for Saint Michel du Palais, within whose walls 
Archibishop Maurice de Sully baptised Philip 
Augustus in 1165, nothing remains to the memory of 
the Archangel but the bridge over the Seine. 
" ' There is my bridge still,' Saint Michael may 
think, * but as for my church I seek for it in vain.' " 
These vanished churches are too many all to be num- 
bered here, since in La Cite alone there were, up to 
the eighteenth century, no less than seventeen of 

[366] 



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PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

them, and outside the walls of the city there were 
many more. 

Happily Notre Dame has better withstood the at- 
tacks of time and all the accidents of fire, plunder, 
and desecration. Five years or so after the comple- 
tion of the western fagade a fire broke out, and in the 
restoration the double-arched buttresses of the former 
apse disappeared, and the windows were enlarged in 
accordance with the growing love of light which was 
being manifested in other cathedrals all through 
France. In more modern times — towards the middle 
of the eighteenth century — the extraordinary taste of 
the late Renaissance period ordered the removal of 
all the stained glass both of nave and choir — leaving, 
however, the western rose window and the two in the 
transepts — and this is, of course, a loss that can never 
be repaired, although the restorations of VioUet-le- 
Duc have probably, as Mr. Hamerton says, gone some 
way towards bringing back the original effect of light 
in the interior of the church. The exterior of the 
nave likewise suffered not a little from the doubtless 
well-meaning zeal of an unarchitectural age, which 
had literally stripped it bare of all ornament: " One 
after another the architects had suppressed the ad- 
vancing parts of the buttresses between the chapels, 
the gables, the friezes, the balustrades — in one word, 
the entire ornamentation of these same chapels, the 

[369] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

pinnacles which decorated the tops of the buttresses, 
with the statues which accompanied them and their 
flowering spires, the picturesque gargoyles which 
rendered the services of throwing the rain-water to 
a distance from the walls." 

" We may take it for granted," Mr. Lonergan says 
in his " Historic Churches of Paris," " that those who 
dedicated the church to the Virgin were not in- 
fluenced alone by the fact that a previous temple in 
her honour had stood on the banks of the river, but 
by the impetus given to what Protestants call her 
* worship ' and Catholics her ' cult ' or devotion in 
the twelfth century." From the earliest times there 
existed, especially among sailors and fishermen, the 
feeling of devotion to the Virgin Mary. They prayed 
to her who held the Divine Infant on her knees to 
intercede for the lives of men who sailed across the 
waters on dark and starless nights. This worship of 
the Virgin steadily grew all over France, and the 
founders of the great monastic orders — Saint Augus- 
tin, Saint Benedict, and Saint Francis, and the 
famous Saint Bernard of Clairvaulx — are all in- 
cluded by Dante as paying special devotion to the 
Virgin ; and history has furnished us with many other 
names, amongst which are those of Hildebert, the 
bishop of Le Mans, Yves and Pierre, bishops of 
Chartres, and the scholar of St. Denis^^ Pierre Abe- 

[370] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

lard. At no time was this more noticeable than in the 
centuries following the completion of Notre Dame. 
In consequence of this great growth of Mary-wor- 
ship, the Virgin came to be regarded as the protec- 
tress of the people — as, indeed, she is to this day — 
and the Church of Notre Dame began to be the 
people's church, a kind of centre, civil as well as 
ecclesiastical, of the city life. For instance, Notre 
Dame in Paris became not only the house of worship 
and prayer, but " the house both of God and man," 
and this through no irreverent feeling. The parvis 
or garden in front of the Cathedral became a gather- 
ing-ground for the townsfolk — a remnant of this 
feeling, it would seem, still exists in the markets 
which in lesser towns are nearly always held round 
the church — fairs took place there, the buyers bring- 
ing their purchases to be blessed by the priest as they 
passed the church steps; and the various festivals of 
the Church gave rise to secular feasts and sports of 
all kinds, as well as to the performance of the miracle 
plays which were attended by the people with such 
simple wonder and reverence, and which in England 
laid the foundation of the secular comedies. 

The monks of Saint Germain originally came from 
Autun, and at first acknowledged the rule of Saint 
Basil, which was afterwards exchanged for that of 
Saint Benedict. After its restoration in the eleventh 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

century the foundations became very powerful, and 
round its walls grew up the bourg of Saint Germain; 
later it became the Faubourg of that name, the " in- 
tellectual quarter " of Paris, the haunt of all the most 
brilliant spirits of the day; whose streets were 
trodden by great men, and marked by the footsteps 
of genius. 

The Abbey Church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres 
likewise owes its existence to the Merovingian 
Childebert. In the sixth century Childebert went 
on an expedition against the Visigoths in Spain, and 
returned triumphant with a number of sainted relics, 
among them the tunic of Saint Vincent and a mag- 
nificent gold cross; and in honour of these trophies 
and for their safe keeping he built in the fields out- 
side Paris a monastery, which was consecrated by 
Saint Germain, so the legend says, the very day of 
its royal founder's death. The abbey was originally 
dedicated, in memory of the relics which it guarded, 
to Saint Vincent and the Holy Cross; but after the 
death of its first abbot. Saint Germain, in 576, it 
became known by his name. Before the building of 
the Abbey of Saint Denis, Saint-Germain-des-Pres 
was the burial place of the royal house, and a long 
line of Childeberts, Chilperics, and Chlothars lie at 
rest beneath its stones. It was pillaged and burnt by 
the Normans no less than five times, and therefore, 

[372] 




ST. GERMAIN DES PRES, PARIS 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

when the Abbot Morard set about rebuilding it in 
the eleventh century, very little v^as left of Childe- 
bert's old foundation. Part of Morard's v^ork may 
still be seen in the present nave of the church; the 
choir and apse w^ere built later, and date from the 
second half of the twelfth century, the church being 
finally consecrated by Pope Alexander III. in 1163. 

The vs^ealth of the monastery even so late as the 
eighteenth century may be gauged by the indigna- 
tion of Arthur Young, who in his travels through 
France in 1786-7 of course visited the capital and its 
many churches, but looked upon everything with the 
eye of an agriculturist, and only saw in the rich 
meadows of the Benedictines so much wasted mate- 
rial for a prosperous farm. " It is the richest abbey 
in France ; the abbot has 300,000 liv, a year. I lose 
my patience at seeing such' revenues thus bestowed, 
consistent with the spirit of the tenth century, but not 
with that of the eighteenth. What a noble farm 
would a fourth of this income establish! What tur- 
nips, what cabbages, what potatoes, what clover, 
what sheep, what wool I Are not these things better 
than a; fat ecclesiastic? " 

Like Saint-Germain-des-Pres, the Sainte Cha- 
pelle originated in a sanctuary where precious relics 
might be safely deposited, though its foundation 
does not date back to the early zeal of the fresh- 

[375] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

converted Merovingian kings, but only to the cru- 
sades of Louis the Saint, who brought from the East 
the Crown of Thorns and some fragments of the 
True Cross. Legend describes the king as walking 
bare-foot through the streets of Sens and Paris, dis- 
playing his treasure-trove to an adoring multitude; 
but it soon became necessary to place the relics in 
sanctuary, and accordingly, in 1245, the celebrated 
architect, Pierre de Montereau, began to work out 
his plans under the direction of the king, and com- 
pleted his chapel three years later. Its form was a 
curious one, consisting of two stages ; the upper one, 
dedicated to the Sainte Couronne and the Sainte 
Croix, was reserved for the king and his court; the 
lower, bearing the name of the Virgin, was given 
over to servants, retainers, and the general multitude. 
This upper chapel, which was then and still is 
to-day the chief glory of the building, was on a 
level with the royal apartments in the adjoining 
palace, and could thus be reached without descend- 
ing into the court and re-ascending by the staircase. 
This chapel was the joy of Saint Louis' life, and 
during his reign no cost was spared in order to make 
it a fitting receptacle for the relics which he ven- 
erated and believed in as simply as a child, and for 
which he is said to have paid to the Byzantine 
emperor the enormous sum of two million Hvres. As 

[376] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

it now stands, the Sainte Chapelle has been almost 
completely restored, and this restoration, which was 
carried out in the last century, was embarked upon 
none to soon, judging from the accounts given of the 
state of the church after the Revolution. To begin 
with, it had been desecrated under the rule of the 
Goddess of Reason, and used for storing legal docu- 
ments and papers ; the beautiful glass of its windows, 
with its marvellous minuteness of design, was either 
destroyed or irregularly patched up; the spire was 
gone, and so was much of the sculpture and ornament, 
both outside and inside. There it stood, this monu- 
ment of the piety of St. Louis, its founder forgotten, 
its glory departed, and its actual structure in danger 
of being swept away. Even its ancient surroundings, 
the Great Hall, the Cour de Mai, and the Cour des 
Comptes of Louis XIL, had vanished; their place 
was occupied by modern law-courts, and the half- 
ruined church seemed hopelessly out of date and out 
of place. By a great stroke of good fortune the 
balance turned in its favour; it was decided not to 
pull it down, but to restore it as a chapel attached 
to the courts, where the lawyer might hear Mass; 
and, thanks to the care and skill of the restoring 
architect, it stands to-day in all essentials much as it 
did when Louis IX. worshipped there with his cour- 
tiers, when the light from the tall windows streamed 

[ 377 ] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

in upon the bright armour and rich garments of 
hundreds of noble figures, staining them with new 
and wonderful colours, and when the courts below 
were alive with a motley crowd, townsfolk of Paris, 
pressing to get a sight of the king's majesty, servants 
and retainers thronging round the doors or filing into 
Mass in the Chapel of the Virgin below, whose low 
roof and vaulting really gave it the appearance of a 
crypt to the soaring chapel of the Crown and Cross 
above it. 

Until the time of Henri II. the kings of France 
lived in the great " Salle des Pas Perdus " as their 
royal palace; then the Parlement of Paris — a purely 
legal body — took possession of it, and the easy-going 
canons of the Sainte Chapelle ministered not to 
princes and nobles, but to the brisk, alert gens de la 
robe, who were quick to note and to laugh at their 
comfortable ecclesiastical placidity and ridiculous 
petty quarrels. Boileau, the famous satirist, was the 
son of a registrar, and grew up under the shadow of 
the law-courts, and it was he who in his " Lutrin " 
victimised the poor, ease-loving prebends and canons 
more than any of his fellows, though one of these 
canons was his own brother, and after Boileau's 
Heath heaped coals of fire upon the head, or rather, 
upon the memory, of the poet, by allowing his bones 
to rest within the building at whose servants he had 

[378] 








i 






^r- ni' 



n 



r 



i 



*^-» 





PONT ST. MICHEL AND STE. CHAPELLE, PARIS 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

so mercilessly mocked. The lawyers still have the 
possession of the Sainte Chapelle; but all stalls and 
seats have been removed and its doors are opened 
once a year only, v^hen the autumn session begins, 
being inaugurated by the " Messe Rouge," celebrated 
by the Archbishop of Paris himself. 

The Benedictine foundation of Saint Denis, 
though it stands outside the walls of the city, in a 
suburb where the tangle of machinery and smoke 
of factories make strange surroundings for the peace 
of the cloister, must always claim a right to come 
within the story of France's capital, since it is the 
last resting-place of France's kings. The legends of 
Paris and its saints ascribe the original foundation of 
the abbey church to the following story, which has 
come to be very well known, concerning as it does the 
patron saint of France. Saint Denis, who, as we have 
seen, was the first to evangelise in the marshes of 
Lutetia, suffered martyrdom under the Valerian per- 
secutions in the third century, in the city where his 
good work had begun; but after his head had been 
struck off, the body, instead of falling lifeless at once, 
rose up from the block, took the head in its hands, 
and walked out of the city to the neighbouring town 
of CatuUiacum, where it finally sought refuge in the 
villa of one Catulla, a Roman lady of noble and good 
repute, who instantly took possession of her sainted 

[381] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

charge and gave him Christian burial within her 
garden. So far is legend ; at any rate, a chapel was 
erected over the shrine, and became, of course, an 
object of pilgrimage for many years. Then comes the 
story of Dagobert, the rebellious young prince who 
sought sanctuary in the chapel against the wrath of 
his father; and, inspired by a vision of the saint, 
promised to build a church on the same site. Accord- 
ingly, on his accession to his father's throne, the 
Abbey and Church of Saint Denis were founded in 
about 769. In the following century the Benedictine 
monks purchased their immunity from Norman 
invaders by large sums of money; but this contract 
seems to have availed them little, since the pirates, 
probably hoping for fresh plunder, despoiled the 
monastery as they had despoiled Saint-Germain-des- 
Pres. After this the foundation fell into a terrible 
state of neglect. Its abbots were fighting men — not 
necessarily ecclesiastics, for many nobles in those days 
held lay abbacies; Hugh Capet, for instance, was 
abbot of Saint Martin at Tours — and not until the 
day of the famous Suger did it recover anything like 
its ancient prestige. Suger was an old pupil of the 
Benedictines at Saint Denis, and a fellow-scholar 
there with the young prince Louis I'Eveille, after- 
wards Louis VI., whose chief minister he became in 
later days. In the days of his prosperity the abbot 

[382] 



PARIS AND SOME OF ITS CHURCHES 

devoted himself to restoring and beautifying the 
church, and left full instructions to be carried out 
by his successor, when death prevented him from 
finishing what had been so nobly begun. The work 
languished again, however, until the reign of Louis 
IX., when Eudes de Clement and Matthieu de Ven- 
dome took up the plans once more, and completed the 
church very much as we now see it. 

It was at Saint Denis that was enacted the romance 
of the scholar Pierre Abelard and " la tres-sage 
Helois " of Villon, whose story is too well known — 
and, perhaps, also too secular — to quote here. Both 
lie buried now at Pere-la-Chaise, their remains hav- 
ing been removed from the monastery at Cluny in 
1 79 1 by Lenoir, to his collection of fragments and 
old monuments spared from the Revolution. It was 
after the Revolution that the abbey suffered more 
terrible damage and desecration than ever invading 
heathens or conquering English had worked there. 
The Convention, in its haste to rid the country of 
every trace of the hated monarchy, must needs assail 
dead kings and queens as well as living ones. Conse- 
quently every tomb was ravaged and the dust of a 
hundred kings lay mingling with the dust of the com- 
mon ditch. With the restoration of the Bourbons, 
Louis XVIII. ordered also the replacement, as far 
as it was possible, of the bones of his dead ancestors ; 

[383] 



CATHEDRAL CITIES OF FRANCE 

and the French kings sleep once again at Saint Denis, 
peaceful and undisturbed as in other years, though 
a smoky veil hangs over their resting-place and the 
roar of furnaces breaks the quiet of their ancient 
tombs. 



I384J 



Index 



Abadie, M., restoration of St. 

Pierre, 269. 
Abbaye aux Dames, Caen, ii8- 

119. 
Abbeville on the Somme — 

Church of St. Wolf ran, 27-28. 

Geological discoveries, 21-22. 

Historical sketch, 22-36. 

Rue des Trois Cailloux, 27. 
Abbeys and Abbey- Churches — 

St. Denis, 78-81, 381-384. 

St. Germain-des-Pres, 372-376. 

St. Jean des Vignes, 61. 

St. Ouen, 82-83. 

Sainte-Colombe, 300. 
Abelard, Pierre, 346, 370, 383. 
Academic Frangaise, 113; Bossuet 

admitted, 334. 
Agenticum, ancient name of Sens, 

299. 
Aiguillon, 268. 
Aisne, the, 54. 

Aitre de St. Maclou, Rouen, 83-84. 
Alatri, walls of, 261. 
Alcock, Bishop, 274. 
Alcuin, his school of Theology, 

184. 
Alengon, 172. 
Alengon, Due d', attempted siege of 

Paris, 353-354- 
Alexander III., Pope, 365, 375. 
Allier, the, 358. 

Amaury, Montfort d', family, 90. 
Amboise, 192. 

Amiens Cathedral, 27-37, 75* 
Angers — 

Castle, 175-176. 

Cathedral of St. Maurice, 174, 
179-180. 

" Cheval Blanc," the, 176. 

Historical sketch, 169-174. 

Prefecture, old cloister in the, 
176-179. 



Angers — 

Roman basilica, 52. 
Angevin Style, 179-180. 
Angouleme — 

Cathedral of St. Pierre, 268- 
270. 

Historical sketch, 267-268. 
Angouleme, Frangois d'. See Fran- 
cis I. 
Anjou, Counts of, 170-174. 
Anne of Austria, 274. 
Anne of Brittany, 23, 194. 
Anselm of Bee, 121. 
Aquitaine — 

Domed churches of, 262-266 

Truce of God in, 125. 
Archsological Institute of Great 

Britain, 75. 
Ariege, Roman walls in, 337. 
Arnauld, 333. 
Arques, surrender of, 248. 
Arras tapestries, 180. 
Ascelin, son of Arthur, 122. 
Attila, attack on Orleans, 223. 
Augustin, St., 370. 
Aurelianum, ancient name of 

Orleans, 223. 
Autun Cathedral, 302. 
Auxerre — 

Cathedral of St. Etienne, 239, 
302-310. 

Church of St. Euscbe, 310; of 
St. Germain, 305-309. 

Hotel de I'fipee, 310. 
Avallon, 305. 
Avranches, 144. 

Aymer de Valence, tomb at West- 
minster, 77, 257. 
Azo, Prince of Liguria, 152. 



Barker, Mr., "Two Summers in 

Guyenne," 293. 
Bar-sur-Seine, 314. 



38s 



386 



INDEX 



"Bastard of Orleans," 215. 

Bayeux — 

Cathedral, 109-110. 

Description, 105, 107-108. 

Historical sketch, 104, et seg. 

Lanterne des Morts, 108. 

" Maison d'Adam," 108. 

Maison du Gouverneur, 108. 

Rue .des Bouchers, 107; Rue 
General de Dais, 107; Rue 
St. Martin, 107. 

Seminary chapel, no. 

Tapestry, the, 110-115. 
Beat, St., Legend of, 40. 
Beaufort, Cardinal, 353. 
Beaugency, 45. 
Beaujeu, Suzanne de, 246. 
Beauvais — 

Basse CEwvre, 342. 

Bishops of, 344-346. 

Cathedral, 341-343. 

Historical sketch, 342-347. 

Jacquerie revolts, 325-329, 343- 

344- 
Jeanne Hachette, story of, 346- 

347. 
Sieges of, 130-133, 344-345- 
Beauvais, College de, 345. 
Benedict, St., 370. 
Benedictines of St. Denis, Paris, 

381-384. 
Benvenuto, Cellini, 248. 
Bernard of Auxerre, legend of, 

309-310. 
Bernard of Clairvaulx, St., 370. 
Bertrand, St., 167. 
Bessin, district, description, 104- 

106, 116. 
Bienheure, St., 2i6. 
"Black Death," 126. 
Black Prince, siege of Limoges, 252- 
253 ; Battle of Poitiers, 274-279. 
Blois— 

Cathedral of St. Louis, 192-193. 
Chateau of, 192, 194-200; trag- 
edy of the, 197-200. 
Church of St. Nicholas, 193- 
194. 
Blucher, siege of Soissons, 57. 
Boileau, " Lutrin," 378. 
Bon Secours Convent, Rouen, 73. 
Bond, Mr., cited, 28, 51, 77, 83, 93, 

292, 309. 
Bononia, ancient town of, 19. 



Bordeaux — 

Cathedral, 292. 

Description, 289-291. 

Historical sketch, 290-291. 
Bossuet, sketch of his career, 330- 

335- 
Boucher, the painter of Versailles, 

228. 
Boucher, treasurer of Orleans, 223. 
Bouillon, Godfrey de, 22. 
Boulogne — 

Cathedral, 21. 
Historical sketch, 15-21. 
Porte Gayole, 2i. 
Bourdaloue, 228, 333. 
Bourges — 

Cathedral, 235-236. 
Historical sketch, 227-234. 
House of Jacques CcEur, 232, 

261. 
Roman wall of, 337. 
Boy, Jehan le, 94. 
Bretigny, Peace of, 280. 
Bricqueville - Colombieres. See 

Colombieres. 
Buch, Captal de, 326-329. 
Buckingham, Duke of, attack on 

La Rochelle, 283-286. 
Bulet, M., " Dictionnaire Cel- 
tique," 357. 

Caen — 

Abbaye aux Dames, 118-119. 
Church of St. Stephen, 118- 
119; burial of William L in, 
120-134. 
Historical sketch, 116-127. 
Truce of God, 122-125. 
Caesar, Julius, convocation of the 

Parisii, 356-359. 
Calixtus, Pope, 231; council at 

Rheims, 47. 
Calvados district, 116. 
Candes, 184. 
Canterbury Cathedral, 32; choir 

of, 301, 302, 309. 
Cardinal de la Grange, Chapel of, 

27, 28. 
Carentan, fall of, 139. 
Castile, 292. 
Cathedrals — 

Amiens, 27-37, 75. 
Angers, St. Maurice, 174, 179- 
180. 



INDEX 



Z^7 



Cathedrals — 

Angoulerae, St. Pierre, 268-270. 

Auxerre, St. Etienne, 239, 302- 
310. 

Bayeux, 109-110. 

Beauvais, 341-342. 

Blois, St. Louis, 192-193. 

Bordeaux, 292. 

Boulogne, 2i. 

Bourges, 235-236. 

Chartres, 207-211. 

Coutances, 149. 

Evreux, 89, 93-94. 

La Rochelle, 289. 

Laon, 39-42. 

Le Mans, St. Julian, 161-163. 

Limoges, St. Etienne, 252, 253, 
262. 

Lisieux, 96. 

Meaux, 324-335. 

Moulins, 251. 

Never s, St. Cyr, 240-243. 

Orleans, 224. 

Paris, Notre Dames, 365, 369- 
371 ; the old St. Etienne, 363- 
364. 

Perigueux, St. Etienne, 262. 

Poitiers, St. Pierre, 270-273. 

Rheims, 48-51. 

Rouen, Notre Dame, 74-82. 

Saint-L6, 133-134. 

Senlis, Notre Dame, 338-341. 

Sens, St. Etienne, 235, 300-305. 

Soissons, Notre Dame, 57-61. 

Tours, St. Gatien, 188-193, 337. 

Troyes, 319-322. 
Catherine, wife of Henry V., 

betrothal, 313-314. 
Catulliacum, 381. 
Cauchon, Bishop Pierre, trial of 

Joan of Arc, 67-72, 344-345- 
Caxton, 106. 
Celts, Saxon opposition in the 

Bessin, 104. 
Chambord, 192. 

Champagne, Counts of, 310-313. 
Change, storming of, 158-161. 
Chanzy, General, defence of Le 

Mans, 157-159. 
Chapelle de la Fierte Saint-Ro- 

main, legend of, 78-82. 
Charente, the, 289-290. 
Charlemagne, the, 187, 360. 
Charles L of England, 282. 



Charles V., Emperor, 24, 247, 314. 
Charles VIL, pusillanimity of, 45- 
46, 350-354; attempt on Rouen, 
72; reparation to Coutances, 140; 
" King of Bourges," 227 ; spolia- 
tion of Jacques CcEur, 231 ; pro- 
claimed at Poitiers, 280; crown- 
ing, 291. 
Charles IX., 197. 
Charles X., 48. 

Charles the Bold, attack on Beau- 
vais, 346-347- 
the Fat, policy of, 361. 
the Simple, 41, 64, 361. 
the Poet-Duke, 197. 
Prince Frederick, 156; taking 
of Le Mans, 158-161. 
Chartier, Alain, the " Curiale," 
105-106; "Breviare des No- 
bles," 106-107. 
Guillaume, 107. 
Jean, 106, 107. 
Chartres — 

Cathedral, 207-211. 
Counts of, 202-205. 
Franco-Prussian War, capitu- 
lation, 206-207. 
Henry V. crowned at, 205. 
Historical sketch, 201-207. 
Porte Guillaume, 202. 
Tour-de-Ville, 201-202. 
Chateau — 

Barriere, Perigueux, 258-261. 
Blois, 194-200; the Guise trag- 
edy, 197-200. 
Moulins, 248. 
Chateaudun, 206-207; fall of, 212- 

215; the Chateau, 215. 
Chateauneuf, 184. 
Chaumont, 192. 

Chauvigny on the Vienne, 277. 
Chenonceaux, 192. 
Childebert, churches built by, 

363-364, 372-375- 
Christianity, introduction into 

Gaul, 6-7. 
Churches, Abbey or Collegiate, 52- 

53- 
Clovis, first kmg of Pans, 47, 56, 

89, 360. 
Cluny Monastery, 383. 
Musee de, 363-364. 
Coeur, Jacques, story of, 231; 

house at Bourges, 232. 



388 



INDEX 



Cognac, 253. 
Coligny, 282. 
Cologne Cathedral, 342. 
Colombieres, the Huguenot de- 
fence of Saint-L6, 129-130; at- 
tacks on Coutances, 143. 
" Colonne de la Grande Armee," 

Boulogne, 20. 
Commune, founding of the, 152- 

153; established at Sens, 300. 
Compicgne, siege of, 344-345. 
Conde, 282, 333. 

Condom, Bossuet Bishop of, 334. 
Constable de Bourbon, Charles, 

story of, 245-248. 
Constantine the Great, 137. 
Constantius Chlorus fortifies Cou- 
tances, 137. 
Corday, Charlotte, 96, 127. 
Cordeliers — 

Church at Toulouse, 292. 
Convent of, the, at Saint- 
Emilion, 297. 
Corporations, Gaulish, 358-359. 
Cotentin, the, 137; Barons of, 138. 
Coucy, Robert de, building of 

Rheims Cathedral, 48-51. 
Coutances — 

Bishops of, 145. 
Bricqueville-Colombieres, 143. 
Cathedral, 145-146. 
Church of St. Pierre, 137, 145. 
Historical sketch, 136-146. 
Jardin, Public, 149. 
Mediaeval customs, 149, 150. 
Musee, the, 149. 
Crecy, 139. 

Crusades, 22-23 ; Freeman quoted 
(see also Truce of God), 124- 
125. 

Daboval, M., 40. 

Dagobert, King, story of, 78, 382. 

" Danse Macabre " in the Aitre de 

St. Maclou, 83-84. 
Dante, 370. 

Darnley Stuarts, the, 90. 
Defensor, ruler of Le Mans, 152. 
Denis, St., 359; Legend of, 381- 

382. 
Derby, Earl of, relief of Angou- 

leme, 267, 268. 
Dionysius the Areopagite, 359. 
Domremy, 45. 



Don Pedro, dispute of, 291-292. 

Dordogne, the, 292. 

Dormans, Jean de. Bishop of 

Beauvais, account of, 345-346. 
Dunois, Captain, 219-220, 354. 

Edict of Nantes, revocation, 

effect in Troyes, 315-316. 
Edward I., the Villes bastides of, 

293- 
Edward III., campaign in France, 

126, 139-140, 344- 
Eleanor of Castile, 23. 
Eleanor of Poitou, lob; dowry, 

279-280, 290-291. 
Eleutherius, St., 359. 
Emilion the Hermit, 294. 
Enamel workers of Limoges, 251, 

254-258. 
English influence on French ar- 
chitecture, 75-77. 
Enlart, M., "Manned d'Archeo- 
logie Frangaise," 32; on 
origin of Flamboyant Style, 75. 
Eudes, Count of Paris, 361. 
Eudes de Clement, 383. 
Eureptiolus, Bishop of Coutances, 

145. 
Evans, geologist, 21. 
Evreux — 

Boulevard Chambaudin, 93. 
Cathedral, 74, 93-84. 
Church of St. Taurin, 52, 95. 
Description, 88, 89. 
Historical sketch, 89-92. 
Rue Josephine, 94-95. 

Faidherbe, General, 84. 

Faience industry at Nevers, 244; 

at Limoges, 251-254. 
Falaise, 126. 
Felton, John, 285. 
Fenelon, Abbe, 333. 
Fergusson, cited, 53, 83, 342. 
Ferri, Paul, Calvinist, 333. 
Feuquieres, Marquis de, 333. 
" Five Sisters " at York, 103. 
Flamboyant Style, M. Enlart's 

paper on origin, 75; principal 

features, 75-76. 
Fleury, 333. 
Foix, Earl of, relief of the ladies 

of Meaux, 325-326. 



INDEX 



389 



Fortunatus' description of St. 
Etienne, Paris, 363-364. 

Francis I., connection with Abbe- 
ville, 24 ; " Manoir de Frangois 
i^r," Lisieux, 96; and Charles de 
Montpensier, 245-247, 169; de- 
velopment of enamel painting, 

257- 

Franco-Prussian War, incidents in 
Rouen, 84-87 ; incidents near 
Le Mans, 156-161; Times Cor- 
respondent, quoted, 1 56-1 61, 
168; capitulation of Chartres, 
206-207 ; occupation of Orleans, 
224. 

Freeman, cited, 2, 42, 65, 83, 104- 
105, 114, 116, 122-125, 179-180, 
335, 243, 252, 261, 273, 277. 

Froissart, cited, 253, 279, 343. 

Fulk the Black, Count of Anjou, 
139, 171-172, 205. 

Fulk the Good, Count of Anjou, 
170-171. 

Fulk the Red, Count of Anjou, 
170. 

Gabelle tax, imposed by Riche- 
lieu, 144. 
Gallic cities, origin of, 5-6. 
Gargoyle, the, of Rouen, legend 

regarding, 81-82. 
Garlande, Etienne de, restoration 

of Sainte-Marie, 364-365. 
Garonne, port of the, 292. 
Gatianus, St., 183. 
Gaudry, Bishop, 40. 
Gaul, ancient traces in town 

names, 5-6. 
Geoffrey the Hammer, Count of 

Anjou, 172-173. 
Geoflfrey, Count of Gascony, 248. 
Geoffrey of Mayenne, swears the 

Civil oath, 155. 
Geoffrey Plantagenet, 99. 
Geoflroy de Montbray, Bishop of 

Coutances, 121, 145. 
Geological discoveries in the 

Somme Valley. 21-22. 
Germain, St., 309, 372. 
Gersendis, Countess, 152. 
Gervase, cited, 32. 
Gesoriacum, Roman town, 19. 
Gilbert of Evreux, 121. 
Gilbert of Lisieux, 121-122. 



Girondists at Caen, 126-127; at 

Saint-Emilion, 297-298. 
Gisors, 47. 

Gloucester Cathedral, 93. 
Gonzagas, occupation of Nevers, 

244. 
Green Croft, Cambridge, 274. 
" Grotte de Saint-Emilion," 297. 
Guesclin, Bertrand de, 252, 280. 
Guilds, Craftsmen's, in Paris, 360. 
Guise, Cardinal de, 199-200. 
Guise, Henri de, tragedy of, 197- 

198. 
Guyale, meetings of the, 21. 
Guyenne, 'villes bastides of, 293. 

Hachette, Jeanne, bravery of,. 

346-347. 
Hadouin, St., tomb of, 164. 
Hagano, Bishop, 125. 
Hamerton, Mr., " Paris in Old and 

Present Times," quoted, 365-366. 
Ham-sur-Somme, Castle of, 21. 
Harcourt, Geoffrey d', 140. 
Harold of Denmark, 66. 
Headlam, Mr. Cecil, "Story of 

Chartres," quoted, 206-207. 
Heloise, 383. 

Henry I., burning of Evreux, 90. 
Henry II., marriage at Lisieux, 100. 
Henry III., 187, 197. 
Henry IV., of Navarre, crowned at 

Chartres, 45, 205; entry into 

Rouen, 73. 
Henry V., 67, 126, 139; Aglncourt, 

197; betrothal in Troyes, 313- 

314; siege of Meaux, 329-330. 
Henry VIII., siege of Boulogne, 19. 
Heremas, Abbot, 46, 47. 
Herodotus, cited, 357. 
Herlwin, knight, 120. 
Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, 184. 
Hildebert, Bishop of Le Mans, 370. 
Hoffbauer, M., " Paris a travers les 

Ages," cited, 363-364. 
Hotel Rambouillet, 333. 
Hugh, Capet, 22, 362, 382. 
Hugh of Tours, Abp., 171. 
Hugh of Vermandois, 23. 
Hugh the Great, 361. 
Hugues de Morville, Bp., 145. 
Huguenots, troubles at Rouen, 72- 

73 ; stronghold at Saint-L6, 129- 

130; attack on Coutances, 143; 



390 



INDEX 



Huguenots — 

resistance in La Rochelle, 281- 
a86; massacre in Troyes, 314- 

315- 
" Hundred Days," the, 57. 
Hundred Years' War, effect on 

French Architecture, 76-77, 100. 

Ingelgar, Count of Anjou, 170. 
Innocent, Pope, troubles with 
France, <?'?4-33S- 

Jacquerie Revolts, 335-326, 343- 

344- 
James, Mr. Henry, "Little Tours 
in France," cited, 174, 301, 232- 

235- 
Jargeau, capture by Jeanne d'Arc, 

45- 

Jesus College, Cambridge, 274. 

Joan of Arc, Story of, 45-46 ; death 
at Rouen, 67-72; relief of Or- 
leans, 218-223 ; capture of 
Troyes, 314; her capture at 
Beauvais, 344-345 ; the attempted 
siege of Paris, 350-355. 

John, Duke of Bedford, death, 72. 

John Lackland, 66; massacre at 
Evreux, 90. 

John of France, at Poitiers, 274- 
279. 

Josephine, Empress, 90. 

Julian, Emperor, 359-360. 

Julian, St., bishop of Le Mans, 163; 
tomb of, 164. 

Jupiter, temple of, St. Etienne, 
Paris, built on site, 363. 

La Beuriere quarter of Boulogne, 

16. 
La Chartre, 158. 
La Cite, Paris, 365; Churches of, 

365-366. 
La Hire, Captain, 354; entry into 

Orleans, 219-220. 
La Rochelle — 

Cathedral, 289. 

Historical sketch, 281-286. 

Huguenot resistance, 281-286. 

Tour de la Chaine, 289. 

Tour de la Lanterne, 289. 

Tour Saint-Nicholas, 286. 

Seaport of, 286-287. 
La Trappe monastery, 335. 



La Tremouille, policy of, 354. 

La Trinite, Abbey of, Vendome, 216. 

La Vendee, Royalists take Le 

Mans, 156. 
Laack, Church of, 240. 
Laon — 

Cathedral, 39-42. 
Historical sketch, 39-40. 
Type of Gaulish hill-city, 38. 
Lancelot, M., discovery regarding 

the Bayeaux tapestry, 113-114. 
Lanfranc, work in Evreux Cathe- 
dral, 93. 
Langeais, 192. 
Langres Cathedral, 302. 
Lanterne des Morts, Bayeux, 108. 
Laudus, Bishop, founder of Saint- 

L6, 145. 
Le Mans — 

Cathedral of St. Julian, i6i- 

163. 
Characteristics, 151. 
Commune founded in, 155. 
Franco-Prussian War, in- 
cidents, 156-161. 
Historical sketch, 151-161. 
Notre Dame de la Couture, 

163-168. 
Notre Dame du Pre, 163-168. 
Place des Jacobins, 161. 
Le Sauvage, chief of the Nu- 

Pieds, 145. 
Leduc, his " peasant girl " in 

Saint-L6, 129. 
Lenoir, 383. 
Leo IX., Pope, Council at Rheims, 

46-47. 
Lethaby, Mr., " Mediaeval Art," 

quoted, 179-180. 
Liane river, the, 19. 
Libourne on the Dordogne, 292; 

bastides of, 293. 
Lichfield Cathedral, 75. 
Limoges — 

Cathedral of St. Etienne, 252- 

253, 262. 
"Central" Hotel, 251. 
Description, 251-253. 
Enamel workers of, 251-254. 
Historical sketch, 252-254. 
Rue du 7iieme Mobiles, 254. 
Lisieux — 

Church of St. Jacques, 99; of 
St. Pierre, 95, 100-103. 



INDEX 



391 



Lisieux — 

Description, 95-99. 
Grande Rue, etc., 96. 
Historical sketch, 99-100. 
Hospice, IOC. 
Rue du Paradis, 103. 

Limousin, Leonard, enamel work 
of, 257-258. 

Loire, the, 157; near Angers, 174; 
near Touraine, 181-182; at Ven- 
dome, 216-217. 

Lonergan, Mr., " Historic 

Churches of Paris," 370. 

Louis le Debonnair, 57, 

Louis le Jeune, 61. 

Louis Philippe, 20. 

Louis IX., 139; procession through 
Sens, 300. 

Louis XL, 45 ; seizure of Bou- 
logne, 19; at Plessis-Ies-Tours, 
187; founds university at 
Bourges, 227. 

Louis XII., marriage with Mary- 
Tudor, 23-24; proclamation of, 
187; rooms of, in Chateau de 
Blois, 196; and Charles, Con- 
stable de Bourbon, 246. 

Louis XIII., 144. 

Louis XIV., 334. 

Louis XVIIL, restoration of St. 
Denis, 383. 

Loup, Saint, bishop of Auxerre, 
309- 

Louvre, exhibition of the Bayeux 
tapestry in the, 114. 

Lucian, St., 343. 

Luitgarde, third wife of Charle- 
magne, 187. 

Lutetia, see also Paris, 357; 
ancient emblems, 357-358. 



Madeleine, the, Paris, 366. 
Madeleine, Troyes, 322-323. 
Maine, Bishops and Counts of, 

151-152. 
Manteuffel, General, 84-87. 
Marguerite de Provence, 300. 
Marne, the, near Paris, 290; at 

Meaux, 335-336. 
Martial, St., 252. 
Martin, St., 137, 151, 172, 359; 

veneration of, 183-184. 
Martinopolis, 184. 



" Martyrdom " and Confessio, 

terms, 309. 
Mascaron of Tulle, 333. 
Masles, Jean le, 107. 
Massillon, 333. 
Matignon, attack on Saint-L6, 129- 

130. 
Matilda of Flanders, 117. 
Matthieu de Vendome, 383. 
Maupertuis, 277; plains of, 277. 
Maxime, Sainte, 309, 
Mazarin, Cardinal, 244. 
Meaux — 

Bossuet's connection with, 330- 

335- 

Cathedral, 324-325. 

Henry V. besieges, 329-330. 

Historical sketch, 325-335. 

Jacquerie revolts, 325-329. 

Mills of, 335-336. 
Mecklenburg, Duke of, 57, 158, 

161. 
Medici, Catherine de', 197. 
Mellon, Saint, 63. 
Melun, 358. 
Metz, 333. 
Midi, the, 258. 
Mittelzal, church of, 240. 
Monstrelet, cited, 313-314, 329. 
Montbray, Bishop de, 138. 
Montbray, Cathedral de, demol- 
ished by the Huguenots, 143. 
Montereau, Pierre de, 376. 
Montfaucon, discovery regarding 

the Bayeux tapestry, 113. 
Montrichard, 192. 
Morard, Abbot, 375. 
Moriniere, Quesnel, house in Cou- 

tances, 149. 
Moulins — 

Cathedral, 251. 

Chateau Mal-Coiffee, 248. 

Constable de Bourbon, story 
of, 245-248. 

Norman invasion of, 248-251, 

"Tour de I'Horloge," 245. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 20, 90-93, 

114. 
Napoleon III., 20. 
Nautae Parisiaci, the, 357-359. 
Nautae Tiberis of Rome, 358-359. 
Navarre, King of, punishment of 

the " Jacquerie," 344. 



392 



INDEX 



Nevers — 

Cathedral of St. Cyr, 240-243. 

Church of St. Etienne, 53, 239- 
240. 

Counts of, 236-239. 

Ducal Palace, 243. 

Faience industry in, 244. 

Historical sketch, 236-239. 

Porte du Croux, 243-244. 
Nicholas v.. Pope, 228. 
Nicolle, tax-gatherer, 144-145. 
Nimes, amphitheatre of, 358-359. 
Normandy — 

Confiscation by Philippe Au- 
guste, 66-67. 

Truce of God in, 122-125. 
Norwich, Sir John, defence of 

Angouleme, 267-268. 
Notre Dame d'Evreux, 74, 93-94. 
T«Iotre Dame de la Couture, Le 

Mans, 163-164, 292. 
Notre Dame de Laon, 39-42. 
Notre Dame de Paris, 365, 369-371. 
Notre Dame de Rouen, 74-82. 
Notre Dame de Saint-L6, 133-134. 
Notre Dame de Senlis, 338-341. 
Notre Dame de Soissons, 57-61. 
Notre Dame du Pre, Le Mans, 163- 

168. 
Notre Dame la Grande, Poitiers, 

274. 
Noviodunum, 236. 
Noyon, crownings at, 42-45. 
Nu-pieds, revolt of the, 126, 144- 
145. 

Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, connection 
with the tapestry, 114; life 
story of, II 5-1 1 6. 
Odo of Chartres, 205. 
Oger the Dane, 64. 
Orleans — 

Cathedral, 224. 

Church of St. Bonnet, 228. 

Crownings at, 45. 

Historical sketch, 218-224. 

Les Augustin's, fortress of, 
219. 

Porte Regnart, 220. 

Prussian occupation, 224. 

Relief of, 218-223. 

Saint Loup, 219. 
Orleans, Charles d', 106. 
Orleans, Gaston d', 197. 



Orleans-Longueville, Frangois d', 

215. 
Our Lady of Victories, Joan of 

Arc's dedication, 354-355. 

Paris — 

Bossuet's sermons, 333-334. 
Caesar's convocation of the 

Parisii, 356-358. 
Chapels of, 365-366. 
College de Beauvais, 345-346. 
Early importance, 362-363. 
Prankish seizure of, 360. 
Historical sketch, 348-363. 
La Cite, 365; Churches of, 365- 

366. 
Lutetia, ancient trade of, 359. 
Madeleine, the old, chapels of, 

366-369. 
Notre Dame, 365, 369-371. 
Pont Notre Dame, 358-362. 
Rue des Marmousets, 366. 
Saint Denis, Benedictine found- 
ation, 381-384. 
Saint Etienne, the first Cathe- 
dral, 363-364. 
Saint Germain-des-Pres, Abbey, 
Church of, 372-376. 
Saint Louis, Chapel of, 365. 
Saint Michael du Palais, 366. 
Saint Pierre aux Boeufs, Cha- 
pel of, 366. 
Saint Chapelle, 375-381. 
Saint Marie, 365. 
"Salle des Pas Perdus," 378. 
Parisian Navigation, the, 357-358. 
"Parisii," meaning of term, 357. 
Parker "Glossary," 31. 
Patay, battle of, 45. 
Pater, Walter, " Miscellaneous 
Studies," cited, 36-37; "Imag- 
inary Portraits," cited, 305-306. 
Pere-la-Chaise Cemetery, 346, 383. 
Perigord, Cardinal de, 278. 
Perigueux — 

Cathedral of St. Etienne, 262. 
Chateau Barriere, 258-261. 
Church of Saint Front, 258- 

266. 
La Cite, 262. 
Tour de Vesone, 258-261. 
Perpendicular Style in England, 76. 
Perpetuus, St., 184. 
Perthes, Boucher de, 23. 



BD -2,16 



INDEX 



393 



Peter the Hermit, 22. 

Philippe Auguste, confiscation, 66- 

67, 380, 291 ; baptism of, 366. 
Pierre, Bishop of Chartres, 370. 
Plessis-les-Tours, 187-188. 
Poitiers — 

Battle of, 274-279. 

Cathedral of St. Pierre, 270- 

273- 
Church of Notre Dame la 
Grande, 274; Saint Rade- 
gonde, 274. 
Hi3torical sketch, 279-280. 
Temple Saint Jean, 273. 
Poitou in English hands, 279-280. 
Pomerantin, Castle of, 277. 
Pont Notre Dame, 358, 362. 
Ponts d'Ouve, the, 139. 
Porches of French Cathedrals, 
evolution from the narthex, 319- 
322. 
Porte du Croux, Nevers, 243-244. 
Porte Gayole, Boulogne, 2i. 
Potentian, St., 202, 300. 
Poupinel, 144. 
" Precieuses," the, 333. 
Presle, College de, 346. 
Prestwick, 23. 
Prout, drawings, 24, 36. 

Queen Eleanor's Cross, North- 
ampton, 77. 

Radegonde, Saint, 274. 

Ratuma or Ratumacos, early name 

of Rouen, 63. 
Raymond of Toulouse, 23. 
Ravenna, 309. 
Re, Island of, 282. 
Remigius, St., legend of, 47-48. 
Rheims — 

Cathedral, 48-51. 
Church of St. Remi, 52-53. 
Historical sketch, 42-50. 
Hotel de Moulinet, 53. 
Joan the Maid, story of, 45-46. 
Papal Councils, 46-47. 
Rheims, Archbishop of, policy, 354. 
Richard the Fearless, 66, 90; 
brought up at Bayeux, 105 ; his 
widow builds Coutances Cathe- 
dral, 145. 
Richard II., birth-place at Bor- 
deaux, 291. 



Richelieu imposes the Gabelle tax, 
144-145 ; siege of the Huguenots 
of La Rochelle, 282-286. 

Richemont, Constable de, 140. 

Robert d'Artois, 300. 

Robert of Flanders, 23. 

Robert of Lisieux, Bishop of Cou- 
tances, 145. 

Robert of Normandy, 22, 66. 

Robert of Paris, loss of Neustria, 
64-65. 

Rolf the Ganger, 19, 62; mvasion 
of Rouen, 64; conversion, 65-66; 
settlement of Lisieux, 99-100; 
possession of Bayeux, 104. 

Roraain, St., Bishop of Rouen, 
legend, 81-82. 

Roman Conquest, effect on Gaul, 
5-IO. 

Roman de Rou, the, 65. 

Roman Remains, Basilica of An- 
gers, 52; at Perigueux, 258-261; 
at Bourges, 261 ; Practoriura 
Ramparts at Senlis, 336-337; Pal- 
ace of the Thermes, near Paris, 

357- 
Rouen — 

Aitre de St. Maclou, 83-84. 
Basse-Vieille-Tour, 78. 
Cathedral, 74-82. 
Chapelle de la Fierte Saint- 

Romain, 78-81. 
Church of St. Maclou, 83. 
Church of St. Ouen, 82-83. 
Description of, 73-74. 
Franco-Prussian War, inci- 
dents, 84-87. 
Historical sketch, 62-75. 
Huguenot troubles, 72-73. 
Jeanne d'Arc, trial of, 67- 

72. 
Market-place, 45. 
Place and Haute- Vielle-Tour, 

78. 
Rue Martainville, 83. 
Tour Jeanne d'Arc, 67. 
Roy, General, 84. 
Ruskin, criticisms on Abbeville, 27 ; 
Amiens Cathedral, 28; on Rouen 
Churches, 74-75, 83; Diary, 
quoted — Amiens Cathedral by 
the Somme, 32-36; drawings of 
Abbeville, 27. 
Rusticus, St., 359. 



394 



INDEX 



Saint Aignan, Churches of, 366. 
Saint Bonnet, Church of, Orleans, 

228. 
Saint Clalr-sur-Epte, treaty at, 64. 
Saint Cyr, Cathedral, Nevers, 240- 

243. 
Saint Denis, Paris, Benedictine 

Foundation, 381-384. 
Saint Etienne, Auxerre, 305-306; 

Limoges, 252-25^, 262; Nevers, 

52, 239-240; .'aris, 363-364; 

Sens, 300-305. 
Saint Eureptiolds, Basilica of, 

Coutances, 138. 
Saint Eusebe, Church of, Auxerre, 

310. 
Saint Front, Church of, Peri- 

guex, 258-261. 
Saint Gall, Church of, Switzer- 
land, 240. 
Saint Gatien, Cathedral, Tours, 

337-338. 
Saint George's Chapel, Windsor, 

Saint Germain, Church of, Aux- 
erre, 305-309. 
Saint Germain-des-Pres, Abbey, 

Church, Paris, 372-376. 
Saint Germain-le-Vieux, 366. 
Saint Jacques, Church of, Lisieux, 

99. 
Saint Jean des Vignes, Soissons, 

61. 
Saint Jean, temple of, Poitiers, 273. 
Saint Julien, Cathedral, Le Mans, 

161-163. 
Saint Julien du Pre, Le Mans, 

163-167. 
Saint Lizier, Roman Walls of, 337. 
Saint-L6 — 

Basse Ville, the, 130, 133. 
Cathedral, 133-134. 
Historical sketch, 128-138. 
Maison Dieu, 133. 
Place Ferrier, 129. 
Rue Torterton, 128. 
Tour Beauregard, 129, 130. 
Tour de la Rose, 130. 
Saint Louis, Cathedral of, Blois, 

192-193. 
Saint Maclou, Rouen, 83. 
Saint Mark's, Venice, influence 
on style of Saint Fronte, 262- 
263. 



Saint Martin, Church of. Tours, 
52; Fort of, on the Island of 
Re, 282. 

Saint Maurice, Cathedral, Angers, 
174, 179-180, 273. 

Saint Medard, Abbey of, Soissons, 

57- 

Saint Michael du Palais, Paris, 
366-369. 

Saint Nicholas, Church of, Blois, 
193-194. 

Saint Pierre, Cathedral, Angou- 
leme, 269-273 ; Church, Auxerre, 
305; Coutances, 137, 145; Li- 
sieux, 95, 100-103 ; Poitiers, 270- 
273; Senlis, 337-338. 

Saint Remi, Church of, Rheims, 
52-53 ; Monastery of, 46-47. 

Saint Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Chateau 
of, 140. 

Saint Stephen's, Caen, burial of 
William I., 120-122. 

Saint Taurin, Church of, Evreux, 

52, 95- 

Saint Urbain Cathedral, Troyes, 74, 
75, 322. 

Saint Wolfran, Church of, Abbe- 
ville, 27. 

Sainte Chapelle, Paris, 375-381. 

Sainte Colombe, Abbey, Sens, 300. 

Sainte Croix, nuns of, 274. 

Sainte Emilion — 

Grotte of, 297-298. 
Vineyards of, 294. 

Sainte Marie, Paris, 364-365. 

Sainte Radegonde, Church of, Poi- 
tiers, 274. 

Salisbury Cathedral, 75. 

Saumur, 171. 

Savinian, St., 202, 300. 

Saxon inhabitants of the Bessin, 
104. 

Scott, "Quentin Durward," 187- 
188. 

Seine, the, 64; towards Evreux, 
88-89. 

Selby Abbey, Yorkshire, 309. 

Semur, 305. 

Senlis — 

Cathedral of Notre Dame, 

338-341- 
Church of St. Pierre, 337-338. 
Historical sketch, 336-337. 
Roman remains, 336-337. 



INDEX 



395 



Sens- 



Abbey of Sainte-Colombe, 300, 
Cathedral of St. Etienne, 235, 

300-305. 
Historical sketch, 299-301. 
Soissons — 

Abbey of St. Jean des VIgnes, 

61. 
Cathedral of Notre Dame, 

58-61. 
Historical sketch, 54-58. 
Somerset, Duke of, 72. 
Somme river, the, 32-36. 
Somme valley, geological discover- 
ies, 21, 22. 
Sorel, Agnes, 231. 
South Kensington Museum, 75. 
Spiers, Mr., "Architecture East 

and West," 239-240, 263-265. 
Stephen of Blois, 23, 99. 
Strabo, cited, 359. 
Suger, Minister of Louis VI., 383. 
Sully, Maurice de, 365-366. 
Syagrius, " Romanorum Rex," 54. 



Taillefer, the vfarrior, 138. 
Tancred, the " Very perfect gentle 

knight," 23. 
Tapestry, the Bayeux, 110-115. 
Taurin, Saint, 89, 95. 
Temple Church, no. 
Texier, Jean le, 207. 
Theobald or Thibaut, Count of 

Chartres, 202. 
Therain valley, 341. 
Thermes, Roman Palace of the, 

357- 

Thibaut, Count, of Anjou, 172. 

Thibaut, Count, of Chartres, 90. 

Thibaut le Tricheur, Count of 
Chartres, 205. 

Thibaut IV., Count of Troyes, 315. 

Thomas a Becket, St., 100; at Sens, 
300, 301. 

"Toillette de Due Guillaume," 
114. 

Toulouse, Church of the Corde- 
liers, 292. 

Tour Beauregard, Saint-L6, 129. 

Tour de la Chaine La Rochelle, 
289. 

Tour de la Lanterne, La Rochelle, 
289. 



Tour de Vesone, Perigueux, 258- 

261. 
Tour St. Nicholas, La Rochelle, 

286. 
Touraine, description of, 181-182. 
Tours — 

Angevin struggle for, 171-172. 

Church of St. Gatien, 188-192, 
337. 

Church of St. Martin, 52. 

Historical sketch, 183-188. 

Rue des Halles, 184. 

Tour Charlemange, 187. 

Tour de THorloge, 187. 
Toury, Cloister of, 321. 
Treaty of Troyes, 313-314. 
' Triforium," description of term, 32. 
Troyes — 

Cathedral of St. Urbian, 74- 
75, 318-322. 

Commerce and Fairs of, 315- 

319-. 
Historical sketch, 310-319. 
Huguenot massacre, 314-315. 
Treaty of Henry V., 313-314. 
Truce of God, 47; preached in 
Normandy, 122-125. 

Ursin, St., 99. 

Valonges, fall of, 139. 

Vaurus, the bastard of, death of, 
330. 

Vendome — 

Abbey of La Trinite, 216. 
Counts of, 215-216. 
Loire at, 216-217. 

Venetian Colonies at Limoges, 266. 

Venice, St. Mark's, style influences 
architecture of Saint Front, 262- 
266. 

Vercingetorix, 299. 

Verheilh, M. Felix de, 266. 

Vieil-Evreux, Roman Settlement, 89. 

Villes bastide; the, of Guyenne, 
293-294. 

Vincent St., Childebert's Church, 
.372-375- 

Viollet-le-Duc, cited, 28, 41-45, 48- 
51, 265, 270-273, 302, 342; pane- 
gyric on Chartres Cathedral, 
211; restorations in Notre Dame, 
,369- 

Vire, the, 130. 



396 



INDEX 



"Week of Battles/' 1871, the 
156. 

Wells Cathedral, 75; tomb of Wil- 
liam de la Merche, 77. 

Westminster Abbey, 109; tomb of 
Aymer de Valence, 77, 257. 

Whewell, quoted, 93, 94, 100, no. 

William de la Merche, tomb at 
Wells, 77. 

William Longsword, 66, 105; 138. 

William of Poitiers, n6. 

William the Conqueror, 66; con- 
nection with Caen, 117-126; fu- 
neral at Caen, 120-122; at Le 



Mans, 155; struggle wltb Geof- 
frey the Hammer, 172; at Mou- 
lins, 248-251. 

Wittich, General von, 207. 

Wolsey, Cardinal, the French al- 
liance, 24. 



YoNNE RIVER, 299; at Sens, 301. 

Young, Arthur, account of the 
Guise tragedy, 199-200; indig- 
nation of, 375 ; Rouen, descrip- 
tion of, quoted, 73. 

Yves, Bishop of Chartres, 370. 



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